Baseball Kicks off Week with Split at Lowell
LOWELL, MA - After falling 11-4 in game one of Monday's
doubleheader, the Merrimack College baseball baseball team (9-6,
5-4 NE-10) rebounded for a 6-2 win in the nightcap behind pitching
from freshman Mike Laracy (Weymouth,
MA).
"Mike proved a lot today," said head coach Joe
Sarno. Game one was a continuation of Saturday with
the exception of Ray Walker's hitting and [Mike] Dooling's home
run. The attitude and energy in game two was far better and
we showed what we can do when we play inspired baseball."
For the Warriors in game one, sophomore catcher Ray Walker (Lowell,
MA) accounted for half of the Warriors hits,
including a third inning triple, in front of his hometown crowd.
Junior third baseman Mike Dooling (Milford,
CT) cut the lead to four (2-6) with his first home
run of the year in the fifth inning, but a four-hit, two-run sixth
inning provided sufficient cushion for the River Hawks in the
Conference head-to-head.
Freshman Joe Mantoni (Hopedale,
MA) got the nod on the mound, but lasted only three
innings before giving up five runs on three hits despite four
strikeouts.
In game two--a non-Conference game--the Warriors jumped out to a
3-0 lead thanks to a three-run bomb from Matt Hogan (Andover,
MA). Hogan tallied another RBI with a triple in the
sixth inning to score Brendan Pyburn
(Peabody, MA) who went 3-for-4 in game two. Pyburn
also stole three bags on the afternoon in the third, sixth and
eighth innings.
Laracy went 8.0 innings in game two, allowing one run on four
hits and striking out six batters. After committing two
errors in game one, the Warriors went error-free through nine
innings in game two.
"When we play perfect baseball, we can beat a lot of teams,"
said Sarno. "It's a matter of keeping consistency and
maintaining our energy."
Merrimack takes their energy to Franklin Pierce University
(18-9) on Tuesday when they travel to Rindge, New Hampshire for a
3:30pm Conference contest.
