Teahan, Batchelor Rally Baseball for Win over Saint Anselm
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – Despite dropping a hard-fought 10-8
contest in game one of Sunday's doubleheader, the Merrimack
College baseball team bounced back for a 5-4 win in the nightcap in
the bottom of the ninth on a Beau Batchelor
(Peabody, MA) RBI single up the middle.
For the freshman Batchelor, it was his first career hit in his
fourth career start behind the plate. Another first on the
afternoon consisted of sophomore Andrew Teahan's
(Winchester, MA) first career win after throwing a
scoreless inning in the top of the ninth in relief.
“It was tremendous to see the younger guys answer the call
in game two,” said head coach Joe
Sarno. “Game one was a tough one to swallow,
but it was nice to get past it with a win. The way it
happened, I'm happy for Beau to have that be his first career
hit and happy for Andrew to pick up his first win that way.”
On the day, the Warriors fell to 6-8 in the Northeast-10
Conference after dropping the Conference contest in the
opener. With the win in game two, Merrimack improved to 11-10
overall, but made no ground in the league as game two was a
non-Conference matchup. The Warriors and Hawks will meet on
Wednesday in Manchester, New Hampshire to decide the season series
in a Conference game at 3:30pm.
In game one, senior captain Brendan Pyburn
(Peabody, MA) was the player of the game, going 4-for-4
with three RBIs, until Saint Anselm's catcher Matt
Sucharewicz hit his second three-run homer of the afternoon in the
eighth inning to give the Hawks the lead for good.
Sucharewicz also went 4-for-4 on the afternoon mashing his sixth
double of the season as well.
Designated hitter Ed Medeiros (Seekonk,
MA) also tallied a season-high three hits in game one to
contribute towards a pair of RBIs.
Senior Dylan Ellis (Gloucester,
MA) went 7.0 innings in game one, allowing four runs and
striking out five, but 15 hits altogether for the Hawks beat out
the Warriors 14 for the game.
In game two, junior Jake Halloran
(Stoneham, MA) made his first start of the season and went
5.0 innings while fanning seven and allowing just one earned run.
In the bottom of the eighth, Merrimack made their rally from two
down to score on a bases loaded walk and a wild pitch. With
two outs in the eighth, sophomore Paul Manganiello
(Levittown, NY) got the run going with a single down the
left field line to score freshman Mark O'Flynn
(Ipswich, MA) who had previously stolen second after
reaching on a fielder's choice.
Maintaining the 4-4 tie through the top of the ninth, Teahan
held the Hawks hitless and scoreless despite hitting two batters.
After freshman second baseman Brett Julian (Weymouth,
MA) reached on a single up the middle and stole second,
Batchelor delivered the game-winning single to score Julian easily
from second.
The Warriors return to action on Tuesday when they travel to
Southern New Hampshire for a Conference contest in Manchester at
3:30pm. Merrimack split a pair of seven inning games against
the Penmen on March 9 to open the season at Franklin Pierce's
Pappas Field.
