Pyburn Homer Nullified in 5-1 Baseball Loss at Saint Anselm
MANCHESTER, NH - Despite his 196th career hit in the form of a
home run to give the baseball team a 1-0 lead, senior Brendan Pyburn
(Peabody, MA) and the Warriors fell 5-1 at Saint Anselm
Thursday afternoon in non-Conference action.
Pyburn's solo shot in the first was one of four Warrior hits in
an afternoon the Warriors stranded seven runners and committed
three errors. Saint Anselm (11-28) was not without their
follies, committing three errors--albeit less costly--as well.
With his team-best 43rd hit (.333 BA) of the year, Pyburn
extended his hitting streak to 11 games dating back to April 13
against Southern New Hampshire.
Merrimack falls to 16-16 on the year with a pair of
doubleheaders this weekend to close out the regular season.
Three of the four contests are Conference match-ups that may
decide the Warriors playoff fate as they currently reside in the
eighth spot and two games out of the sixth and final playoff spot.
Saturday is a Conference doubleheader at Pace University (noon)
and Sunday is 'Senior Day' in a Conference/non-Conference contest
with Southern New Hampshire at noon in a make-up from April 18th.
For the Warriors on Thursday, freshman Joe Mantoni (Hopedale,
MA) started on the mound and went 5.2 innings, giving
up two earned runs and striking out four batters. Both first
inning runs for the Hawks were unearned after a fielding error to
lead off the inning. Saint Anselm would tack on another run
in the third after another error by the visitors.
In his second career appearance, freshman Brian Wolfendale
(Methuen, MA) relieved Mantoni and did not give up a
run on two hits in 2.1 innings.
Freshmen Beau Bathelor (Peabody, MA) and
Paul Manganiell (Levittown, NY) each tallied
a hit for the Warriors.
