Baseball Drops Midweek Tilt to Saint Anselm
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack baseball team suffered a 12-1 loss to Saint Anselm Wednesday afternoon at Warrior Diamond. The Warriors fall to 11-22 on the year and 3-15 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Hawks improve to 19-20 overall and 9-11 in the league.
Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, Mass.) scored Merrimack's lone run of the day while also raking one of six hits for the Warriors. Brett Julian (Weymouth, Mass.), Beau Batchelor (Peabody, Mass.), Brandon Cox (Nashua, N.H.), Paul Manganiello (Levittown, N.Y.) and Dan Bresciani (Hopedale, Mass.) each recorded a base knock in the game.
The home team got on the board first as O'Flynn scampered home on a wild pitch. O'Flynn led off the bottom of the first with a double then advanced to third on a groundout by Julian.
Saint Anselm tied the score at 1-1 in the top of the second as Dan Lagasse doubled to left center.
The Hawks took the lead in the third as Steve Panza scored on a groundout by Robert Kelly.
The visitors tacked on two runs in the seventh to grab a 4-1 advantage. Tito Lluberes singled in a run then scored on a wild pitch.
A seven-run eighth frame allowed Saint Anselm to own a 11-1 lead. Dan DeCoste opened the inning with a double down the right field line. A one-out double to left by Lagasse plated DeCoste. Jeff Criscuolo followed with a single up the middle to drive in a run. With the bases loaded, Jim Garrigan singled to push a pair of runs across the plate.
The Hawks loaded the bases with two outs in the eight and DeCoste cleared the bags with a three-run double to center field to cap off the scoring.
Saint Anselm added one run in the top of the ninth. The visitors hit three-straight singles to fill the bases. Rett Ostafin hit a sacrifice fly to center to allow Andrew Chandler to tag up and score.
Travis Terrill (Hudson, N.H.) started on the mound for the Warriors, going 6.2 innings. Terrill surrendered four runs on seven hits while fanning two batters. Timothy Cooney tossed a complete game for the Hawks with eight strikeouts.
"We started out well but our level of execution needed to be better," said head coach Jim Martin. "We will work hard in practice in the coming days so that we are prepared for Saturday."
Merrimack remains on home turf as it hosts Pace April 30 in a Northeast-10 doubleheader. The Warriors will honor its three members of the class of 2011 before game two of the twin bill.
