Comeback Bid Falls Short as Baseball Loses to Stonehill 13-9
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack baseball team dropped a 13-9 decision to Stonehill Tuesday afternoon at Warrior Diamond. The Warriors sink to 7-8 overall and 0-4 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Skyhawks improve to 16-7 on the season and 2-2 in league contests.
Tim Curran (South Weymouth, Mass.) and Joe Mantoni (Hopedale, Mass.) each went 4-for-4 from the dish for Merrimack, tallying half of the home team's hits. Curran crossed the plate twice while Mantoni scored once and drove in a pair of runs on the day. Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, Mass.) registered three RBIs for the Warriors.
Stonehill grabbed a 1-0 edge in the top of the first inning. The Skyhawks increased their lead to 8-0 with a seven-run third inning. The visitors scored twice in the fourth frame to claim a 10-0 advantage.
Merrimack cut the deficit in half with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. Curran led off the inning with a double down the left field line and scored on a double by Mantoni.
With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Eddie Newton (North Billerica, Mass.) plated Joe Santos (Ashland, Mass.) with a sacrifice fly to right field. O'Flynn drove in two runs with an RBI single to cap off the fourth inning scoring.
The Skyhawks tallied two runs on back-to-back triples in the top of the fifth to go up 12-5 midway through the game.
The Warriors pushed two across the plate in the sixth with two outs. O'Flynn and Brett Julian (Weymouth, Mass.) ripped RBI base hits to pull the score to 12-7.
Merrimack drew to within three runs of the visiting team in the bottom of the eighth. Paul Arce (West Hartford, Conn.) drove in Julian with an RBI single after a lengthy at-bat. Mantoni plated Curran with an RBI single through the left side of the infield.
Stonehill added a run in the top of the ninth to extend its lead to four runs, 13-9.
Keith Johansen (Tyngsborough, Mass.) started for the Warriors on the mound and tossed three innings while striking out three. Brian Wolfendale (Methuen, Mass.) came on in relief in the fourth inning and struck out two batters. Steve Chamberland (Bristol, Conn.) hurled two innings and allowed two runs while recording three strikeouts. Chris Pinette (Norwood, Mass.) closed out the game with three frames of relief pitching with one run surrendered while fanning two.
"Another tough game for us today. Whenever you score nine runs, you expect to win," said manager Jim Martin. "We did a good job of battling back late in the game but we dug ourselves into a deep hole early on."
The Warriors will meet the Skyhawks March 31 in a non-league contest.
