Baseball Drops Pitcher's Duel in Opener, Suffers Sunday Sweep to Adelphi
Box Score (Game 1) | Box Score (Game 2)
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After dropping a pitcher's duel, 1-0, in game one by the slimmest of margins, the Merrimack baseball team committed five errors in a 12-3 setback in the late game, as Adelphi posted a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader sweep over the Warriors on Sunday afternoon at the Warrior Baseball Diamond.
Losers of back-to-back games for the first time in nearly a month, the Warriors move to 18-8 on the year and will return to Northeast Division play on Wednesday (April 10) with a home tilt against UMass Lowell starting at 3:30 p.m. The Panthers saw their overall record move to 13-14-1 on the year after the sweep.
"It was unfortunate to drop both games today," head coach Jim Martin noted afterward. "We battled in game one but uncharacteristically for us, we were unable to score. [Junior pitcher] Alek Morency (Nashua, N.H.) pitched great, and it was unfortunate we couldn't get him a run. We let game two get away from us, it was a two-run game and we couldn't execute and played poor defense. We'll practice hard and get ready for a very tough Northeast Division race the rest of the way."
Game 1
Morency and counterpart Jeff Andersen dazzled, combining for nine strikeouts and one run allowed, but unfortunately for Merrimack, it was the one that Adelphi plated in the top of the third that proved to be the difference, as the Panthers edged the Warriors in the opener, 1-0.
Morency enjoyed one of his best outings of the year, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out six and walking none, but Andersen was equally as good, going 7 1/3 innings of six-hit ball while using three strikeouts and one walk to keep the Merrimack offense – one that averages nearly eight runs per game – at bay.
Dillon McNamara pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and notched his team-leading seventh save of the year to help the Panthers escape with the victory to start the day.
Six different Warriors recorded a hit, including at least one apiece from the No. 3 through No. 8 hitters and a team-leading two-hit performance for senior Casey Cotter (North Hampton, N.H.), but a snake-bitten Warrior offense stranded five men on base and hit into one double play en route to being shut out for the first time this season.
Adelphi grabbed the only run of the game on the top of the third, as leadoff man Ray Triano scored from third on a throw down to second on a stolen base attempt with two outs. The runner at second was safe, as Triano's tally proved to be the difference in the game.
Merrimack had chances in the bottom of the fifth (2 hits) and then again in the seventh (5-4-3 double play), but perhaps the best opportunity came in the eighth. After sophomore Dionys Quezada (Lawrence, Mass.) led the inning off with a double, the catcher was thrown out on a sacrifice bunt attempt at third to erase the lead runner.
Still, after McNamara entered the game and tossed a walk to the first batter he faced, Merrimack had the bases loaded with one out. Unfortunately for the Warriors, a strike-out/throw-out double play ended the inning, as junior Eddie Newton (North Billerica, Mass.) was erased on a run-down at the tail end of a failed sacrifice bunt play to end the inning.
Merrimack got a runner on in the ninth but McNamara struck out two and induced a fielder's choice to end the game.
Game 2
After both sides combined for only a run total in the first game, Adelphi's bats exploded while Merrimack's errors mounted, giving the Panthers a 12-3 victory in the late game to round out the afternoon sweep.
Junior Travis Terrill (Hudson, N.H.) took the loss after allowing six runs (three earned) on 10 hits through five innings, while Jimmy Milani picked up the win after his team backed him to a 4-2 lead through five innings.
Newton led the Warriors with three hits in the late game while he and freshman Sean O'Neill (Norwood, Mass.) accounted for the only RBI for the home side. Merrimack scored its only two runs in the second on an RBI single to left and a Newton base hit through the left side, as the Panthers outslugged Merrimack, 19-7, in hits, while the Warriors committed five errors to Adelphi's four.
Ahead by two runs (4-2) after five, the visitors doubled their lead with two runs apiece in the sixth and seventh to put the game out of reach. Merrimack responded with a run in the bottom of the eighth, but four more Adelphi runs would cross in the ninth to seal the sweep.
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