O'Rourke, Ellis, Pyburn Key in Baseball Sweep of AIC
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – Senior left-handers Ryan O'Rourke
(Worcester, MA) and Dylan Ellis
(Gloucester, MA) pitched nine innings each on Saturday
afternoon to help Merrimack College to a Conference-sweep of
American International at Warrior Diamond.
Game one was a 1-1 tie until senior captain Brendan Pyburn
(Peabody, MA) hit a walk-off single with the bases loaded
in the 10th to extend his hitting streak to nine
games. Pyburn went 3-for-5 in game one and 4-for-9 on the day
to end the day five hits shy of 200 for his career.
O'Rourke dealt another beauty in the opener, but failed to
secure his fourth win of the year by virtue of a ninth inning
tie. The senior struck out 16 batters, including seven of the
first nine he faced. Allowing just four hits in the game and
taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning, O'Rourke reduced his
season ERA to 1.50 over 60.0 innings.
Ellis was equally potent in game two, but registered a win with
run support from senior Matt Hogan (Andover,
MA) and freshman Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich,
MA). Hogan tallied an RBI single in both the third
and the sixth while O'Flynn scored a run on his first triple of the
year. Ellis allowed just five hits and struck out seven in
the shutout win.
“Dylan and Ryan did just what we hope for them to do when
they pitch back-to-back,” said head coach Joe Sarno.
“Our offense is struggling right now, but our pitching is
keeping us in the game and today we found away to push enough runs
across the play to win.”
For the Warriors (16-15, 11-12 NE-10), the two wins over AIC was
the first twin bill sweep of the season since a March
20th sweep of Assumption College.
Merrimack returns to action on Sunday at Post University for a
noon-time doubleheader.
