Baseball Falls Twice at Mitchell Saturday

NEW LONDON, Conn.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team dropped a league doubleheader at Mitchell Saturday afternoon, falling 11-2 and 12-5.

The Lions move to 11-12 on the year and 2-2 in the New England Collegiate Conference with the setbacks. The Mariners rise to 17-6 overall and 3-1 in league action with the two wins.

Steven Pesce (Harrison, N.Y.) paced the offense with two hits and a pair of RBIs on the day. Tyler Bean (Wellington, Fla.) and Juan Jacobo Lopez (San Diego, Calif.) both finished with two hits, one RBI, and one run scored. Shane McNamara (Londonderry, N.H.) chipped in with a pair of base knocks and one RBI while Frank Landeiro (Orlando, Fla.) added two hits and two runs scored.

In the opening clash, Mitchell collected an 11-2 win.

The home side erupted for four runs in the bottom of the first inning to claim a 4-0 advantage. L Martinez laced a bases-loaded triple to right field to drive in Hunter Yaworski, Dougie DelaCruz, and Bo Yaworski. Owen Robbins knocked a single to right field to score Martinez.

Eastern Nazarene got on the board in the top of the second to cut the deficit to 4-1. Landeiro crossed the dish as Hunter Leroux-Porter (Greenland, N.H.) reached on a fielder's choice.

The Mariners tallied a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to widen the margin to 6-1. Martinez and John-John Jose each picked up RBis as Bo Yaworski and Hunter Yaworski both scoring in the inning.

Mitchell scored twice in the third inning to stretch its lead to 8-1. Bo Yaworski singled to knock in Justin Adorno before Angel Galindez scored as DelaCruz reached on a fielder's choice.

The Lions chalked up one run in the fifth to narrow the gap to 8-2. McNamara roped a two-out double to the gap in left-centerfield to drive in Bean from second base.

The hosts responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to regain a seven-run advantage, 9-2. Adorno scurried home on a pitch that skittered to the backstop.

Mitchell pushed across two runs in the sixth to extend its lead to 11-2. Jose scorched a single down the left field line to plate Martinez and Hunter Yaworski.

Spencer Boynton (Tampa, Fla.) hurled four innings and fanned two batters in his sixth start of the season. Dale Beneway (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) worked one inning of relief in his seventh appearance of the year. O'Neil Jimenez (Lowell, Mass.) tossed one inning and recorded two strikeouts in his fourth relief outing.

In game two, Mitchell capped off the sweep with a 12-5 victory.

The Mariners manufactured five runs in the bottom of the first inning to establish a 5-0 lead.

The Lions generated four runs in the top of the second inning to trim the deficit to 5-4. Jacobo Lopez looped a base hit to left field to drive in Landeiro from second base. Pesce raked a bases-loaded single to centerfield to score George Calderon Jr. (New York, N.Y.) and Jacobo Lopez. Bean followed with an RBI single to centerfield to plate Brandon Guerrero (Boston, Mass.).

Mitchell chalked up a run in the third to snag a 6-4 edge and plated a pair of runs in the home half of the fourth to push its advantage to 8-4.

The Mariners tallied three runs in the fifth to widen their lead to 11-4.

Eastern Nazarene managed one run in the sixth to cut the margin to 11-5. Calderon crossed the dish for the second time on the afternoon as Bean reached on a fielder's choice.

Mitchell answered with a run in the bottom of the frame to capture a 12-5 advantage.

Kelvin Cortez (Corona, N.Y.) threw 4.1 innings in his second start of the spring. Jon Tessier (Coronado, Calif.) pitched one-third of an inning and registered one strikeout in his team-leading 12th appearance of the season. Eduardo Labour (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) tossed 1.1 innings of relief in his fifth outing.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene visits Tufts April 4.