Baseball Rallies for Walk-Off Win over Saint Mike's to Cap Saturday Sweep
Box Score (Game 1) | Box Score (Game 2)
HAVERHILL, Mass. – Down by a run in the bottom of the ninth of game two, the Merrimack baseball team rallied for two runs – capped off by a walk-off base knock from senior Alan Pastyrnak Jr. (Bristol, Conn.), as the Warriors pulled off a dramatic doubleheader sweep against Saint Michael's, 8-4 and 3-2, in Saturday afternoon Northeast-10 Conference Divisional action at Trinity Stadium in Haverhill, Mass.
Taking all three games against Saint Mike's over a two-day span, the Warriors improve to 15-6 overall while moving their conference record to 6-1 and their divisional record to 3-0. The Purple Knights, meanwhile, fell to 5-12 overall with an 0-3 mark in conference and divisional play.
Merrimack will open its home slate on Tuesday (April 2), continuing divisional play with a league tilt against Bentley at 3:30 p.m. before welcoming Pace and Adelphi next weekend.
"It was a great effort, being resilient in game two and coming back the way that we did," head coach Jim Martin noted afterward. "After they took the lead we were able to grind it back out and get the job done, doing whatever it took to win. I thought all weekend our pitching was great. We had a lot of extra base hits and took advantage of some counts. Overall, though, it was a great weekend."
Game 1
Merrimack pounded out 12 hits and tacked on key runs in the sixth and eighth innings, respectively, to pull away late in the game, as the Warriors took the opening game over the Purple Knights, 8-4.
After building an early three-run lead, Merrimack saw Saint Mike's claw back to within one run (3-2). But the Warriors answered with a three-spot in the sixth before adding the final two insurance runs in the eighth to prevail.
Sophomore Joe Carnevale (East Providence, R.I.) was stellar en route to locking down his third win of the year. The righty tossed six innings and fanned five while scattering seven hits and allowing two runs. Seniors Brett Julian (Weymouth, Mass.) and Brian Wolfendale (Methuen, Mass.) tossed the final three innings to preserve the lead and the win for their starter.
SMC's Andrew DuPrat took the loss after allowing five earned runs while walking three. Barry Maily and Rich Reo also saw work on the hill for the visitors.
Freshman Frank Crinella (Springfield, Mass.) plated the first Warrior run in the bottom of the second, as Merrimack edged ahead by a run after two innings. Then in the third, it was seniors Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, Mass.) and Joe Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.) connecting on base-scoring hits. The former drove home Pastyrnak Jr. on an RBI double down the left field line, while the latter made it a 3-0 Merrimack lead with an RBI single to right.
The Purple Knights responded with a run each in the fifth and then the sixth, slicing the deficit to 3-2. But freshman Matt Brown (Belmont, Mass.) gave Merrimack some breathing room with a two-run homer that rolled down the left field line and out of the park before sophomore Dionys Quezada (Lawrence, Mass.) scored later in the inning on a wild pitch to push the Warriors ahead, 6-2, after six.
The visitors pushed in two more runs in a last-gasp effort in the top of the seventh, but the Warriors would answer again with two more in the eighth, highlighted by a mammoth solo shot off the bat of Quezada, as well as an RBI double from freshman Sean O'Neill (Norwood, Mass.), to account for the final run total.
Game 2
Each side's respective starter turned in gems in a classic pitchers' duel, as the Warriors erased a one-run deficit in dramatic fashion to win it on a walk-off base hit from Pastyrnak Jr., taking game two by a 3-2 margin to cap the Saturday sweep against the Purple Knights.
After Saint Michael's rallied with two runs against Mantoni in the top of the eighth, Merrimack came to bat in the last of the ninth needed at least a run to keep it going. Instead, they got more than that; junior Eddie Newton (North Billerica, Mass.) tied it up on a rocket through the box before Pastyrnak Jr. won it with a deep run-scoring single.
After giving up a one-run lead in the eighth, Mantoni wound up as the pitcher of record and took the win for the Warriors, finishing with 1 2/3 innings of relief and one strikeout. Junior Alek Morency (Nashua, N.H.) was solid in his start, lasting 7 1/3 frames while yielding just a run on five hits while striking out four and walking none.
Saint Michael's saw its starter toss a gem as well, as Nick Myers lasted eight innings and yielded two runs on eight hits and finished with four strikeouts and three walks. Kevin Guild wound up with the loss after facing just two batters, while Reo also saw time in game two for the visitors.
Merrimack took the lead in the bottom of the second on Crinella's first collegiate home run, and that one-run cushion held all the way until the eighth as both starting pitchers kept each side's offenses at bay.
But then in the eighth, with a runner on, designated hitter Alec Tice sent a liner down the left field line that rolled out of the park, as the Purple Knights went ahead, 2-1, on the two-run homer.
Undeterred by the deficit, Merrimack rallied in the ninth, as Brown started things off with a single through the left side before moving to second on a sacrifice. A wild pitch moved the pinch runner Mike Forgione (North Branford, Conn.) to third before Newton tied it with a single up the middle.
Merrimack still had plenty left, as Crinella walked before an error on a fielder's choice loaded the bases. That set the stage for Pastyrnak Jr., who blasted the first pitch he saw to deep center to win it for the Warriors.
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