Brown's Eighth-Inning Single Leads Warriors over Purple Knights, 3-1
MALDEN, Mass. – With the score tied at a run apiece in the bottom of the eighth, freshman first baseman Matt Brown (Belmont, Mass.) came through with a huge two-RBI single, and that was enough to lead the Merrimack baseball team to a 3-1 victory over Saint Michael's in Northeast-10 Divisional action on Friday afternoon at Malden Catholic High School.
Winners of two in a row and seven of their last eight, the Warriors improve to 13-6 overall and move to 4-1 in conference play and, more importantly, 1-0 in divisional play. The Purple Knights saw their record fall to 5-10 overall with an 0-1 mark in both league and divisional play.
The two schools will round out the season series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon at Trinity Stadium in Haverhill, Mass. First pitch is slated for 12:30 p.m.
"Good game by [senior pitcher] Mike Laracy, [senior pitcher] Beau Batchelor and[senior] Joe Mantoni, as that great pitching helped us get the win today," head coach Jim Martin said afterward. "Mike was able to work out of some jams early on, we made some great plays behind him and had some timely hitting when we needed to, especially with Matt coming through on a big two-out hit in the eighth."
Tied, 1-1, at the time, classmate Sean O'Neill (Norwood, Mass.) started the inning with a base knock through the box and moved to second by means of a sacrifice and settled at third following a groundout. Finally, after back-to-back hit batsmen, it was Brown connecting on one of his biggest hits of his young career, lifting a single to center to score both O'Neill and senior Casey Cotter (North Hampton, N.H.), and that was more than enough for Mantoni to lock down the win in the ninth.
Laracy took a no decision after tossing five innings of three-hit, one-run (zero earned) ball while striking out three and walking three. Batchelor, meanwhile, improved to 2-0 after becoming the pitcher of record in the bottom of the eighth. The righty tossed three scoreless innings while scattering two hits and striking out two. Finally, Mantoni picked up his team-leading third save of the year after striking out two in the ninth to seal the deal.
Andrew Kelley went the distance for the Purple Knights and fell to 1-1 on the season after giving up all three earned runs on seven hits. Kelley also struck out six and walked none.
Saint Mike's hopped ahead with an unearned run in the top of the first, as a two-base error by the second baseman allowed the leadoff man Tyler Wild to cross and give the visitors a 1-0 advantage after a half inning.
But in the bottom of the second, the Warriors got that run right back, as Brown reached on a hit by pitch and eventually scored on an RBI fielder's choice with classmate Frank Crinella (Springfield, Mass.) at the plate.
All tied up at 1-1 after two innings, that deadlock would hold over the next five-plus innings before Merrimack finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth.
In total, the Warriors outhit the Purple Knights, 7-5, and also committed the only error of the game. Junior Eddie Newton (North Billerica, Mass.) boasted a two-out triple in the fourth but was stranded at third, while Merrimack stranded six runners total.
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