Baseball Falls at Bentley, 6-4, to Open Divisional Play
WALTHAM, MA- The Merrimack baseball team suffered a 6-4 setback at Bentley in the first Northeast Division contest of the 2012 campaign. The Warriors drop to 11-12 on the season and 0-1 in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference. The Falcons improve to 13-11 overall with a 1-0 mark in divisional action.
"It was good to see our team battle and compete after falling behind early," said head coach Jim Martin. "They were able to come up with a few more key hits today. We will look to bounce back this weekend."
Joe Mantoni (Northbridge, MA) paced Merrimack with a 4-for-5 effort at the dish and one RBI. Dionys Quezada (Lawrence, MA) collected a pair of base knocks in the game. Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, MA) and Brett Julian (Weymouth, MA) each registered one RBI in the contest.
Mantoni started the game on the mound for the visitors and tossed three innings. The junior co-captain struck out three batters while scattering four hits and four earned runs. Connor Elmore (Billerica, MA) hurled three innings of relief work and fanned three. Beau Batchelor (Peabody, MA) pitched the final two innings, holding Bentley scoreless while allowing one hit and racking up two strikeouts.
The hosts claimed an early 1-0 lead, scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning. After stealing third, Shane Keady came home as the throw to third got away.
Bentley added four runs in the third inning to go ahead 5-0. Logan Gillis and Kevin Korweck each picked up RBI singles while Bryant Johnson drove in a run with a groundout.
Casey Cotter (North Hampton, NH) led off the fourth inning by reaching base safely followed by a single through the left side by Mantoni. O'Flynn plated the Warriors' first run of the day with a single up the middle to score Cotter from second. Julian doubled to left center to tack on Merrimack's second run of the inning and cut the deficit to three, 5-2.
The Falcons scored one run in the home half of the fourth to increase their advantage to four, 6-2. Greg Baggett hit a lead-off homer to left center to cushion Bentley's lead.
Alex Ciullo (Fall River, MA) was hit by a pitch to start the fifth frame and advanced to second on a throwing error by the catcher. Alan Pastyrnak (Bristol, CT) pushed Ciullo to third with a sacrifice bunt before the sophomore scored on a passed ball to slice the margin to three, 6-3.
The Warriors pulled to within two runs in the seventh with a run to cut the lead to 6-4. Pastyrnak led off the inning with a single and moved up to third on a groundout by Tim Curran (Weymouth, MA). After a walk issued to Cotter, Mantoni singled in his first RBI of the day as he plated Pastyrnak from second.
Merrimack continued to threaten in the seventh as Quezada landed a base hit to load the bags with two outs. A groundout to end the inning stranded all three runners on base.
The Warriors will host a single game against #7/16 Southern New Hampshire in the first event of the year at Warrior Diamond March 31.
