Baseball Extends Winning Streak to Four with Wins over Saint Anselm, Dominican
CHESTER, NY – For the second-straight day, the Merrimack baseball team claimed non-conference victories over Saint Anselm and Dominican at The Rock Sports Park to run its unbeaten streak to four games. The Warriors escalate to 5-6 in the 2012 campaign with the two wins Sunday. The Hawks and Chargers progress to 7-9 and 1-8 overall, respectively.
"We came up with timely hitting in both games today. Our pitching was great all weekend," said head coach Jim Martin. "Anytime you can win four games in a weekend, it is a successful weekend. It is good to see our players competing hard on a consistent basis."
Merrimack was led by Alan Pastyrnak (Bristol, CT) with three RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base. Eddie Newton (North Billerica, MA) and Tim Curran (Weymouth, MA) each chipped in with three hits on the day.
In the first game of the day, Pastyrnak blasted a three-run homer in the sixth inning with two outs. Newton reached base with an infield single and Alex Ciullo (Fall River, MA) was hit by a pitch to set the stage for Pastyrnak.
Curran and Ciullo each drove in a run in the win for the Warriors to cap off the scoring.
Travis Terrill (Hudson, NH) went six innings on the mound to earn his first win of the season while allowing just one earned run. Brian Wolfendale (Methuen, MA) tossed the final three innings to pick up his first save on the year.
In the nightcap, Newton led off the third frame with a double down the left field line. Ciullo followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Newton to third and Pastyrnak was hit by a pitch. After Pastyrnak stole second, a groundout by Curran allowed Newton to scoot home to give Merrimack a 1-0 lead. Pastyrnak came around to score on a single up the middle by Casey Cotter (North Hampton, NH) to double the advantage.
Dominican knotted the contest at 2-2 in the top of the eighth as a double by Andrew Camardella plated a pair of runs.
The Warriors restored their edge to two runs in the bottom half of the frame. After a wild pitch allowed Cotter and Curran to move into scoring position, Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, MA) laced a single through the left side of the infield to score a run. Cotter came across the plate on a fielding error to push Merrimack's lead to 4-2.
Brett Julian (Weymouth, MA) pitched the ninth inning and fanned all three batters he faced to capture his second save of the year.
Mike Laracy (Weymouth, MA) started the game and went five innings, scattering three hits and no runs. Chris Pinette (Norwood, MA) earned the victory on the hill as he recorded the final out of the eighth inning.
Merrimack will travel to the Sunshine State for a string of six contests starting with a non-conference tilt against Saint Michael's March 15 in Lantana, FL.
