Baseball Holds Off Rivier in Season Finale, 8-7

NASHUA, N.H. – The Eastern Nazarene baseball team capped off the 2013 campaign with an 8-7 victory over Rivier Thursday evening at Holman Stadium. The Lions finish the spring owning a 13-23-1 record while the Raiders slip to 8-30 on the year.

David Manning (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) paced the visitors with two hits, three RBIs and one run scored. Rocco Martinelli (Panama City, Panama) added two base knocks, one run scored and one RBI. Max Pugh (San Diego, Calif.) also notched a pair of hits in the game and crossed the plate twice. Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) drove in a pair of RBIs and scored a run on one base hit while Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Oka.) registered two base hits and one RBI.

Eastern Nazarene got on the board in the third inning, scoring a pair of runs. With two runners in scoring position, Manning laced a single to right field to plate Michael Chiaradio Jr. (Teaneck, N.J.) and Anthony Berroa (Teaneck, N.J.).

The Lions added a run in the fourth to claim a 3-0 lead. Martinelli lofted a sacrifice fly to right with the bases loaded, allowing Pugh to tag up and score from third base.

The visitors tacked on two more runs in the fifth to push the advantage to 5-0. After Pat Yee (Lynnfield, Mass.) drew a two-out walk to load the bases, Justin Wagner singled to left to drive in Manning and Pugh.

Eastern Nazarene picked up a run in the top of the sixth to stretch the margin to 6-0. Martinelli motored home on a two-out single up the middle off the bat of Manning after swiping second and third.

Rivier rallied in the bottom of the eighth, tallying seven runs to jump ahead 7-6. Jeremy Ball singled home a run as Taylor Black crossed the plate with the Raiders' first run of the evening. John DiBenedetto drew a bases-loaded walk to allow Marc Medeiros to trot home. Mike Scanlon followed with an RBI single as Ball touched the plate. Aramis Velez jogged home on a bases-loaded walk issued to Bryar King. Nick Gagnon, Black and Ball also drew bases-loaded walks in the frame for the hosts.

The Lions responded with two runs in the ninth to reclaim a one-run edge, 8-7. Kurt Picarelli (Montrose, N.Y.) scampered home with the tying run as a passed ball rolled to the backstop. Jeremy Wagner plated the go-ahead score as his infield single allowed Justin Wagner to cross the plate.

Berroa pitched five innings and struck out eight batters while allowing no runs. Doug English (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) tossed the final 1.2 innings for the visitors and racked up three strikeouts as he earned the win.