Baseball Endures 13-6 Loss to Rivier Tuesday

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team fell to Rivier 13-6 Tuesday afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex.

The Lions sink to 4-7 on the season with the result. The Raiders improve to 3-5 overall with the win.

Cameron Fiorentino (Uxbridge, Mass.) led Eastern Nazarene with three hits and one RBI. Kurt Picarelli (Montrose, N.Y.) finished with a pair of base knocks, drove in two RBIs and crossed the plate once. Jose Arebalo (Brentwood, Calif.) and Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) each landed two hits and scored one run.

Rivier got on the board in the top of the first, scoring one run as J.J. Montello blasted a lead-off homer to left.

Eastern Nazarene pulled even in the home half of the first inning as Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) dashed home on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1-1.

The Lions plated three runs in the second to build a 4-1 lead. Picarelli laced a double to left field to drive in Arebalo from second base. Luis Gonzalez (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico) picked up on RBI as he pushed a sacrifice bunt down the first base line to score Picarelli from third. Jake Koch (Dayton, Nev.) trotted home as Justin Wagner absorbed a hit-by-pitch to record his team-leading ninth RBI of the spring.

The Raiders trimmed the deficit to 4-2 in the top of the third. Taylor Black crossed the dish on a single to right field by Drew Neely.

Rivier pushed across three runs in the fourth to claim a 5-4 edge. With two outs, Black singled up the middle to drive in David Cusack from second and Mike Scanlon followed with a double to right-center to score Black. Jeremy Ball plated Scanlon for the go-ahead run as he reached on an error.

Eastern Nazarene tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth as Picarelli raked a single to drive in Brandon Wynne (New Haven, Conn.) from third.

Rivier responded with three runs in the sixth to jump ahead 8-5 as Black launched a three-run homer to left.

The Lions tallied a score in the eighth to pull to with two, 8-6. Fiorentino sliced a double down the line in left to plate Jeremy Wagner all the way from first base.

The Raiders tacked on five runs in the ninth to extend their advantage to 13-6.

Brandon Wells (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) pitched four innings in his first start of the season and struck out one batter. Antonio Ortegon (Haltom City, Texas), Frank Fusco (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.), Doug English (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Brent Houle (Westfield, Mass.) and Fiorentino all made relief appearances for the Lions.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene is slated to host a non-league doubleheader Albertus Magnus March 21.