Baseball Forces Decisive Finals Round with 6-0 Shutout Victory over New Haven
Box Score
WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Needing two wins for a chance at its first Northeast-10 Championship since 1996, the Merrimack baseball team is halfway to that goal after drubbing New Haven, 6-0, to open up the Northeast-10 Championship Finals on Saturday morning at Frank Vieira Field.
Tying the single-season school record for victories and forcing a winner-take-all final game of NE-10 Championship Weekend, the Warriors (30-18) will aim for the Saturday sweep against the Chargers (32-14) later this afternoon to try and wrap up what has been one of the most improbable and incredible postseason runs in recent memory.
Just like on Tuesday night after a 4-1, upset victory over top-seeded Franklin Pierce, junior Alek Morency (Nashua, N.H.) was at the forefront of his team's success, tossing his third complete game of the year – and second complete-game shutout of the playoffs – while striking out eight and walking one to lock up his seventh win of the year.
Meanwhile, the Merrimack offense slowly chipped away at first-team all-conference Charger Pat Simone, who fell to 6-2 on the year after yielding three runs – one earned – on five hits over seven innings. The Warriors also added three more runs against reliever Connor Moriarty to add late insurance runs in the final three innings.
Out-hitting the Chargers by a 9-7 margin, Merrimack saw all but two of its starters register one base hit, with senior Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, Mass.) leading the way with a 2-for-4 showing, and four different Warriors tallied an RBI. New Haven, meanwhile, saw Joe Romanelli account for the lone two-hit performance for the home side.
With both Morency and Simone wheeling and dealing through four innings, each side's respective offense was kept in check until the top of the fifth. After a leadoff base hit for O'Flynn, an errant throw on Alan Pastyrnak Jr. (Bristol, Conn.)'s bunt attempt put runners at first and second.
A sacrifice then pushed the duo into scoring position before Simone issued a two-out intentional walk to load the bases. With freshman Mike Forgione (North Branford, Conn.) at the plate, Simone's second pitch of the at-bat squeaked by the catcher, allowing O'Flynn to score from third to give the Warriors the first run of the game and a 1-0 lead after five at-bats.
In the bottom half of the frame, New Haven nearly had something going against Morency with back-to-back singles, but with the hit-and-run on, a fly ball to right wound up into a double play to force out the runner at second. An inning later, a lineout double play in a similar situation squashed another threat by the Chargers, sending the game into the seventh with the Navy and Gold up by one.
That was when the Warriors tacked on two more insurance runs. Pastyrnak sprung the big inning with a leadoff bunt single before a sacrifice bunt moved him to second. Then, freshman Pat Florence (Lowell, Mass.) smashed an RBI single to center before advancing all the way to third on a throwing error. Senior Casey Cotter (North Hampton, N.H.) capped the inning off with a sacrifice fly, giving the Warriors a 3-0 lead.
Facing Moriarty to start the eighth, Merrimack wasted little time in getting to the new pitcher; both Frank Crinella (Springfield, Mass.) and Joe Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.) tallied consecutive singles to start before a sacrifice moved them into scoring position. A subsequent wild pitch allowed Crinella to cross before O'Flynn ripped one through the ride side to drive in Mantoni, upping the Warriors' lead to 5-0 after eight turns at the plate.
The Warriors finished up the game with one more run in the ninth, manufactured primarily by a Cotter single, an error, a bunt and an RBI groundout to wrap up the win for the Navy and Gold.
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