Baseball Ends Season with Split at Assumption
WORCESTER, Mass. – In the final doubleheader of the 2011 season, the Merrimack baseball team claimed a split at Assumption Saturday afternoon. The Warriors finish the year with a 14-27 overall record and a 6-19 mark in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Greyhounds move to 19-29 on the year and 10-16 in the league.
Joe Mantoni (Hopedale, Mass.) led the way with four hits and three runs batted in on the day. Brett Julian (Weymouth, Mass.) added three base knocks and a run scored.
Merrimack dropped game one to Assumption 3-0. Joe Santos (Ashland, Mass.) turned in two hits in the game to pace the Warriors.
The Greyhounds plated a pair of runs in the first inning. Tim Quinn drove in the first run of the afternoon with a ground out to put the hosts ahead 1-0. A single by Mike Foley doubled Assumption's lead to two runs at the end of one inning of play, 2-0.
The home side added a run in the bottom of the sixth as Wally Derosier homered to right field to pad the advantage to 3-0.
Conner McMahon (Westfield, Mass.) pitched all eight innings in game one for Merrimack with five strikeouts and five hits surrendered.
The Warriors captured a 6-3 victory in the last game of the 2011 slate. Merrimack registered nine hits in the win while the Greyhounds finished with eight.
The Warriors erupted for four runs in the top of the first inning of game two. Merrimack's first three batters reached base as Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, Mass.) and Julian singled before Tim Curran (South Weymouth, Mass.) drew a walk. Mike Dooling (Milford, Conn.) laced a single to centerfield to drive in the visitors' first run of the day. Mantoni followed with a base knock to plate two runs and put Merrimack up 3-0. CJ Flannery's (Hudson, Mass.) sacrifice fly knocked in Dooling from third to give the Warriors an early 4-0 lead.
Assumption cut the deficit in half with a pair of runs in the third. Shane Keddy singled to push the Greyhounds first run across the plate. Foley grounded out to the first baseman while driving in a run to pull the score to 4-2.
Drew Dombrowski led off the fourth frame with a four-bagger to slice the Warriors' lead to one run, 4-3.
After O'Flynn drew a walk to open the fifth, Julian's sacrifice bunt moved him to second base. Dooling plated O'Flynn with an RBI single up the middle to increase Merrimack's lead to 5-3. Mantoni followed with a double to right to allow Dooling to motor home for the Warriors' sixth run of the game.
Mantoni started on the mound and allowed one run while fanning one batter in two innings of work. Bill Humphrey (South Easton, Mass.), Keith Johansen (Tyngsborough, Mass.) and Travis Terrill (Hudson, N.H.) preserved Merrimack's lead with effective pitching out of the bullpen. All three hurlers recorded one strikeout and Humphrey surrendered two runs. Julian picked up his sixth save of the season as he closed the door with two innings of relief, tossing the eighth and ninth innings.
"We finished the season well with a great team win in the second game. Our guys came out swinging in game two with a huge first inning," said head coach Jim Martin. "Our pitching was great today as well with a solid pitching effort in both games. A win is a good way to end the season."
