Baseball Playoff Hopes Come Down to Sunday at Home (12pm) vs SNHU
Sunday, May 2 - Merrimack vs. SNHU (Live Stats)
PLEASANTVILLE, NY – With a pair of wins from lefty seniors
Ryan
O'Rourke (Worcester, MA) and Dylan Ellis
(Gloucester, MA) on Saturday at Pace University, the
Merrimack College baseball team's hopes of a playoff berth come
down to the final Conference game of the season on Sunday against
Southern New Hampshire at noon.
If the Warriors were to win on Sunday in game one of a
doubleheader and improve to 14-12 in Conference play, they would
earn the first playoff berth in seventh-year head coach Joe Sarno's
tenure at Merrimack. Sarno also captured his first .500 or
better season with a win sweep of Pace on Saturday.
The win would tie them with UMass-Lowell, but by virtue of a
tie-breaker, the Warriors would begin postseason play on Thursday,
May 6.
In game one, O'Rourke and the Warriors won 2-0 behind a
four-hit, complete game and ten strikeouts by the senior
captain. Senior Matt Hogan (Andover,
MA) drove in a run in the first inning on a sacrifice hit
and that would be all O'Rourke would need in terms of run support.
Senior Ed Medeiros (Seekonk,
MA) also drove in a run on a double in the seventh to add
insurance for the Warriors.
In an error-less game one, the Warriors went all 18 innings on
Saturday without committing an error in the field.
In the second contest, Ellis gave up a run in the first and the
seventh, but eight strikeouts and one walk was enough for Merrimack
to escape with a 3-2 win.
All six of the Warrior hits in game two were from different
batters and three individuals drove in a run, including Medeiros
again on an RBI-single in the second. Sophomores Tim Curran (South
Weymouth, MA) and Ray Walker (Lowell,
MA) accounted for the other two runs batted in.
Despite nine hits from the home team in game two, the Setters
committed three errors which made up the one-run difference in the
end on an unearned run in the fourth.
Before tomorrow's Conference/non-Conference doubleheader, the
seven seniors of Merrimack will be recognized with their parents
prior to the first pitch at noon.
