Becker, Mitchell Advance to NECC Championship Title Round
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Becker | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 1 |
|
Mitchell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mitchell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 1 |
|
Elms | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 1 |
NEW LONDON, Conn. – Second-seeded Becker College and top-seeded Mitchell College each played their way into the title round of the 2014 New England Collegiate Conference Baseball Championship on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
The Hawks earned their spot with a 7-1 victory over the Mariners in Saturday's second game of the double-elimination tournament. Mitchell then came up with an 8-4 win over Elms College—which defeated Lesley University 8-2 in the first game of the day—to earn a rematch with Becker on Sunday, May 4 at 10 a.m.
Game 1 – Elms 8, Lesley 2
Tom Weldon turned in a stellar performance on the mound for the Blazers, striking out a season-high 13 batters over 8.0 innings to help his team stave off elimination in the day's opener. He allowed only two runs on six hits to pick up his third win of the season.
Elms' Brady Forrest went 4-for-5 in the leadoff spot and scored two runs while Zach Dreher had three hits and knocked in three runs. Aedin Wadja had three hits in the game and came around to score three times.
Joe Muratore led the Lynx at the plate with three hits and scored both runs. Tyler Plourd also had an RBI single in the first inning that gave Lesley an early 1-0 lead.
Elms scored three runs in the third inning to pull ahead 3-1 and never trailed again. The Blazers loaded the bases with one out before Dreher delivered a two-run double to left. He later came around to score the third and final run of the frame on a wild pitch.
Elms added two more runs in the fifth thanks to a sacrifice fly by Sam Farnsworth and an RBI single by Alex King. Dreher then knocked in a run with a single in the sixth to extend the lead to 6-2.
Lesley got a run back in the eighth when Muratore scored on a wild pitch, but Elms scratched across two in the home half to complete the scoring. Nolan Medeiros singled through the left side of the infield to plate the first run while Farnsworth added a sac fly that scored Forrest.
Lesley starter Ryan Genua allowed six runs (four earned) on 10 hits over 6.0 innings.
Lesley, which had qualified for the conference tournament for the first time in school history, saw its season come to an end with the loss. The Lynx finished the 2014 campaign with an overall record of 10-17.
Game 2 – Becker 7, Mitchell 1
Becker (20-15 overall) outhit Mitchell 15-6 in the day's second game and got home runs from Chris Testa, Matt Consigli and Taylor Kapulka to power its way into the title round. Tyler Wagar went the distance on the hill, limiting the Mariners to only one run while striking out a season-high nine batters.
Mitchell struck first thanks to a solo home run by Kenneth Olszewski in the bottom of the first inning. However, Becker answered right back with a pair of runs in the second courtesy of a two-run blast by Kapulka.
The Mariners left the bases loaded in the second, and Testa led off the third with a solo homer to increase the Becker lead to 3-1. The Hawks later tacked on two more runs in the seventh that included an RBI single by Mike Marcello, and the final run came in the ninth on a solo homer by Consigli.
Mitchell stranded runners in scoring position in the third, fifth and sixth innings as Wagar got stronger as the game went on. He retired the final 10 batters he faced en route to his third win of the season.
Marcello led all players with four hits on the day while Kapulka and Tom Natoli each had three.
Mitchell starter Tyler Shamas took the loss, surrendering six runs (five earned) on 13 hits while striking out seven over 6.1 innings.
Game 3 – Mitchell 8, Elms 4
A six-run ninth inning snapped a 2-2 tie and gave the Mariners (21-12-1 overall) enough cushion to hold off the Blazers in the final elimination game of the day. Elms, which batted as the home team, brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth before reliever Troy Stango got a ground ball to end the game.
Gavin LaLima went 4-for-4 and drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth to lead Mitchell, which will make its second straight appearance in the title round. Evan Peck finished with two hits and knocked in two runs while Rafael Garcia homered and drove in a pair.
Geoff Frost went 3-for-5 with two RBI to pace Elms, which saw its season come to an end. The Blazers finished the year with an overall record of 13-20.
Elms threatened in the first inning by putting runners on the corners with only one out. Farnsworth then hit a long fly ball to right that was deep enough to plate the runner from third, but the runner on first was moving with the pitch and far from the bag when Mitchell's Neftali Arroyo made the catch while sprinting to the foul line. Arroyo then fired back to first base to complete the double play before the runner from third could tag up and score, keeping the Blazers off the scoreboard.
Elms also benefitted from some strong defense early in the game. Mitchell went ahead 1-0 in the second inning and threatened to score another run on a single by LaLima, but the Blazers cut down the runner at the plate with a relay from the outfield. Elms repeated the feat in the fourth inning on a single by Blaze Iannetti, as Forrest gunned down a runner at home to end the threat.
Mitchell starter Al Jordan Johnson preserved the one-run lead over the first seven innings, keeping the Blazers off both the scoreboard and the base paths. Garcia's two-out blast in the eighth pushed the Mitchell lead to 2-0, but Elms finally got to Johnson in the home half and tied the game behind RBI singles by Farnsworth and Frost.
Elms starter Andrew Sadowski pitched into the ninth but put two runners on via the walk with only one out. Sean Sinnott came in to face LaLima, who laced a shot to deep center to bring in the go-ahead run. The Mariners then teed off for five more runs, getting an RBI single by Marc Dorsi, a two-run single by Peck and a sacrifice fly by Garcia.
The Blazers made it interesting in their final turn at bat. Stango retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth but then surrendered a walk and four hits. Elms plated runs on RBI singles by Kevin Dwire and Frost and had the tying run at the plate before finally running out of magic.
Johnson allowed two runs on eight hits over 7.1 innings in the no decision. Stango improved to 4-0 on the season and gave up two runs on four hits in 1.2 innings.
Sadowski (3-4 overall) went 8.1 innings and gave up four runs (three earned) on eight hits while striking out four.
