LEICESTER, Mass.- Becker College was swept by Mitchell College in New England Collegiate Conference baseball action with scores of 4-3 and 8-4. The sweep lifts the Mariners record to 22-7 (12-3 NECC), while the Hawks sink to14-19 (8-7 NECC).
GAME ONE
The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when both teams put three runs on the board. Tristan Hurley (Mystic, Conn.) got the top of the inning started with double into the right centerfield gap. After a Jack Finnegan (Old Saybrook, Conn.) single put runners on the corners, Tyler Pina (Plainville, Conn.) drove in Hurley with a double to left center. Francis Prettitore (Bayville, N.Y.) followed with an RBI single, scoring Finnegan to make the score 2-0. A sacrifice fly by Chandler Whitney (Beaverton, Ore.) capped off the three run inning for the Mariners.
In the bottom of the inning, Christopher Testa (Providence, R.I.) got the Hawks bats going with a leadoff single. Junior T.J. Sempkowski (Oceanport, N.Y.) followed with a homerun over the left field fence to cut the Mariners lead to 3-2. The hit was Sempkowski's 100th of his career. Randall Minogue (North Kingstown, R.I.) kept the line moving when he legged out a double to centerfield. After a fly out bumped Minogue over to third, Niko Bedell (Manorville, N.Y.) tied the game with a single up the middle.
After a scoreless seventh inning, Finnegan made his way on base in the top of the eighth with a leadoff single through the left side of the infield. Finnegan advanced into scoring position with a theft of second base. Prettitore brought in the go-ahead run with an RBI single up the middle.
Senior hurler Al Jordan Johnson (Groton, Conn.) got the final three outs in the bottom of the eighth for his second collegiate save. Domenick Giaramida (Middle Village, N.Y.) earned the victory after getting the Mainers out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh.
Freshman Daniel Diaz (Teaneck, N.J.) suffered the loss after allowing four runs in eight innings of work.
GAME TWO
The Mariners jumped on the board with four runs in the top of the second inning. After Tyler Pina made his way to third with a single, a stolen base and a fly out, Chandler Whitney brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right. The Mariners then loaded the bases with a pair hit batters and a walk. Tristan Hurley then cleared the bags with triple down the right field line to make the score 4-0.
Kyle Hartenstein (Meriden, Conn.) extended the Mariners lead to 5-0 when he led off the top of the fifth with a solo blast to right.
Becker finally got on the board in bottom of the fifth when Josiah Shepherd (Providence, R.I.) found the pine trees in left for a two-run homerun.
Mitchell would plate three runs in the top of the sixth on a bases clearing muffed pop fly in the outfield to make the score 8-2.
Randall Minogue smacked his fourth homerun of the season in the bottom of the sixth, while Christopher Testa drove in Trevor Read (Colorado Springs, Colo.) with the final Becker run in the bottom of the seventh to make the final 8-4.
Axel De Jesus (Stratford, Conn.) improved his record to 5-2 on the year after allowing four runs on nine hits in sixth and two-thirds innings of work.
Nick Hawrylciw (Amesbury, Mass.) suffered the loss for Becker. Michael Iacovelli (Northbridge, Mass.) kept the Hawks in the game, allowing just one earned run in four innings of relief.
Both teams will return to the diamond on Saturday, April 23rd. Mitchell will head to Lesley University for a doubleheader with the Lynx beginning at 11:00 a.m., while Becker travels to Newbury College for a double dip beginning at 5:30 p.m.
