Walker Homer lifts Baseball past Bentley, 5-4
WALTHAM, MA – In a back-and-forth battle at DeFelice Field
in Waltham, the Merrimack College baseball team (14-13, 9-11 NE-10)
came away with a 5-4 win in the 13th inning over Bentley
University (18-18, 11-7 NE-10) after sophomore Ray Walker (Lowell,
MA) bombed his second home run of the year.
In front of flawless defense by the Warriors (zero errors),
freshman lefty Mike Laracy (Weymouth,
MA) went 7.0 innings while allowing five hits and striking
out four. In four innings of relief, junior Keith Johansen
(Tyngsborough, MA) improved to 1-1 on the season without
surrendering a hit and retiring 12 straight batters.
“Keith was phenomenal in relief today,” said head
coach Joe Sarno. “We grinded this one out, but couldn't
have been in that situation for Ray to step up without some tough
pitching from all three of our guys.”
Senior captain Ryan McNeill
(Lynnfield, MA) also pitched 2.0 innings and allowed one
hit and two runs.
In addition to Walker's game-winning homer, he batted a single
to center field to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the
second. The catcher also drew a walker in the seventh inning.
After the Warriors fell behind 2-1 in the fourth, senior captain
Brendan
Pyburn (Peabody, MA) put Merrimack back on top with a
two-run single in the fifth following an error by the Falcons'
short stop. On the afternoon, Pyburn was walked
twice—once intentionally in the 10th inning.
Sophomore Paul Manganiello
(Levittown, NY) also notched a pair of base hits to climb
aboard, but also accounted for two of the nine base-runners
stranded on the afternoon by Merrimack.
The Warriors are back in action against the Falcons on Thursday
at home in a Conference showdown on Warrior Diamond at
3:30pm. The two teams will conclude the week-long series in
non-Conference fashion in Waltham at 3:30pm Friday.
