Baseball Tops Assumption 9-7
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack baseball team claimed a 9-7 victory over Assumption in a non-league contest. The Warriors' overall record levels out at 7-7 on the year while the Greyhounds drop to 5-12.
Joe Santos (Ashland, Mass.) paced Merrimack with a 2-for-3 performance from the plate with four runs batted in and one run scored. Tim Curran (South Weymouth, Mass.) went 3-for-4 from the dish with one RBI and three runs scored.
Assumption's Shane Keddy blasted a solo home run to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Greyhounds plated a second run in the frame on an RBI single with the bases loaded by Drew Dombkowski.
In the bottom half of the first, Merrimack jumped on top 3-2. Curran drove in the first run for the Warriors with a single through the left side to score Brett Julian (Weymouth, Mass.). Santos raked a two-RBI double to plate Curran and Mike Dooling (Milford, Conn.) to give the home team the lead.
Assumption took a two-run lead in the top of the fourth by scoring three runs on three hits.
The Warriors knotted the game at 5-5 in the home half of the fourth. Joe Mantoni (Hopedale, Mass.) led off the inning with a single to center field and advanced on a wild pitch. Santos pushed Mantoni across the plate with an RBI single up the middle. Merrimack tied the score on a sacrifice fly to center by Eddie Newton (North Billerica, Mass.).
The home side claimed a two-run edge in the fifth, to go ahead 7-5. Santos knocked in Curran from third with a sacrifice fly to right field to record his fourth RBI of the game. After stealing third, Dooling trotted home on a wild pitch.
The Greyhounds' Tim Quinn evened the score with one swing, hitting the first pitch out of the park to score two.
After Curran started the seventh inning with a base hit up the middle and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dooling, Mantoni stepped to plate and sent a line drive over the right field fence to restore Merrimack's two-run lead.
Bill Humphrey (South Easton, Mass.) started for the Warriors on the mound and allowed three earned runs while striking out one. Alek Morency (Nashua, N.H.) come on in the seventh inning and tossed two shutout innings in relief and fanned three. Julian closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the victory.
"It was a gutsy effort by our team today after being down multiple times and getting back into it and win after losing a couple tough games," said head coach Jim Martin. "I was very proud of our pitching staff today, especially Bill Humphrey who made his first start for us and kept the game manageable early on."
The Warriors remain at home and will resume Northeast-10 play with a league game against Stonehill March 29.
