Baseball Blanks Saint Michael's 10-0, Runs Winning-Streak to Five
LANTANA, FL- The Merrimack baseball team claimed its fifth-straight victory with a 10-0 non-league win over Saint Michael's Thursday afternoon. The victory improves the Warriors to 6-6 on the season while the Purple Knights fall to 3-5 overall.
Casey Cotter (North Hampton, NH) paced Merrimack with a 5-for-5 effort at the dish with three runs scored and one RBI. Alan Pastyrnak (Bristol, CT), Tim Curran (Weymouth, MA), Joe Mantoni (Northbridge, MA), Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, MA) and Eddie Newton (North Billerica, MA) all turned in multi-hit performances. Collectively, Merrimack registered 17 hits on the day.
"Another great win for us today versus an opponent in our conference. We pitched very well again and executed our bunts," said head coach Jim Martin. "It was good to see our players continue to battle and it showed today as we had seven RBIs with two outs. We'll look to continue to play well tomorrow."
The Warriors struck early and often with a run in each inning. Mantoni drove in Merrimack's first run of the game in the bottom of the first with a single to right field.
A squeeze play in the second frame doubled the Warriors' advantage to 2-0. Alex Ciullo (Fall River, MA) dropped down a bunt with Brett Julian (Weymouth, MA) on third to score Merrimack's second run. A bunt by O'Flynn with runners on first and second forced a wild throw allowing Cotter to scamper home to extend the Warriors' lead to 3-0 in the third.
Curran plated Merrimack's fourth run of the day in the fourth inning with a one-out single to right center. Dionys Quezada (Lawrence, MA) drove in the fifth run of the contest with a two-out single and Julian followed with a single up the middle to score a pair, giving the Warriors' a 7-0 margin.
Cotter recorded his lone RBI on the afternoon with a single to center in the bottom of the fifth frame.
In the sixth inning, Newton laced a single to center to plate O'Flynn from second as Merrimack increased its advantage to nine runs. On a 1-1 delivery, O'Flynn raked a two-out single to left center to drive in Curran from second base to cap off the scoring in the seventh inning.
Mantoni worked six innings and gave up just two hits while fanning six batters as he picked up his team-leading third win of the year on the hill. Connor Elmore (Billerica, MA) tossed two innings of relief action and scattered two hits with four strikeouts. Bill Humphrey (South Easton, MA) pitched the ninth inning and set down the Purple Knights in order, including a strikeout for the final out.
The Warriors will face off against Mercy in a non-conference doubleheader in Fort Pierce, FL.
