Baseball Sweeps Caldwell Sunday Afternoon
CALDWELL, N.J. – The Merrimack baseball team tallied 18 runs over 18 innings, helping the Warriors to a doubleheader sweep of Caldwell on Sunday afternoon in New Jersey.
After taking all three games against the Cougars on the weekend, Merrimack improves to 9-5 on the year, while the Cougars drop to 1-12.
Game 1
A five-run third inning – highlighted by the first-career home run by rookie first baseman Matt Brown (Belmont, Mass.) – coupled with a dominant outing by junior Alek Morency (Nashua, N.H.) helped the Warriors take the opening game against Caldwell, 6-0.
All but one of Merrimack's six runs came in the top of the third inning, as the Warriors saw two players combine for all six RBI in the afternoon's opener. Morency, meanwhile, would have been just fine with a single run, as the right-hander posted seven strong, scoreless innings to improve to 2-1 on the year.
After two scoreless innings, Merrimack made what appeared to be a harmless inning at the plate into a productive one, as the Warriors plated five runs with two outs, highlighted by Brown's first career homer – a grand slam, nonetheless – to give the visitors a 5-0 edge.
With two outs and a runner on, senior Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, Mass.) produced the first Warrior run with an RBI base knock. Then, two batters later, Brown stepped to the plate and unleashed a monstrous shot that cleared the fences and the bases, putting Merrimack up by five after two and a half innings.
Two innings later, O'Flynn would drive in his second run of the day by means of a sacrifice fly, stretching Merrimack's lead to six (6-0) after five innings. Meanwhile, on the hill, Morency kept the Cougar offense at bay, going seven strong innings to pick up the win.
Senior righty Beau Batchelor (Peabody, Mass.) relieved Morency for the eighth and ninth innings, keeping the Cougars off the board to wrap up the win.
Game 2
The Warriors hopped out in front with five runs in the top of the first, and that would set the tone for an easy 12-4 Merrimack victory to clinch the doubleheader sweep.
Junior Travis Terrill (Hudson, N.H.) tossed a gem in his starting role and lasted seven innings, while the Warrior offense stayed hot early and often en route to the win.
In the late game, a five-run first fueled the offense before Caldwell had a turn at the plate. Merrimack pushed five runs across after a half inning of play, giving Terrill plenty of wiggle room on the mound.
After Caldwell responded with a run in the bottom of the first, the visitors would tack on another two runs in the second and four more in the fourth to go ahead by double-digits (11-1) after four innings of play.
The Warriors would drive home one final run an inning later, and that 11-run cushion was more than enough for Terrill. The junior righty would last six innings before giving way to sophomore Tim Cashman (Rowley, Mass.).
From there on out, Caldwell would muster only three more runs, as Merrimack held on easily for a comfortable win in game two.
Merrimack returns to action next Saturday (March 23), opening up Northeast-10 Conference play at Assumption. First pitch of the scheduled doubleheader is slated for 12 p.m.
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