PLAYOFF BOUND: Baseball Pounds Stonehill in Season Finale to Clinch Postseason Berth
Box Score | Postgame Celebration/Interview
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Playing in what was essentially a must-win game to qualify for the postseason, the Merrimack baseball team exploded with three runs in the fifth and four more in the seventh en route to a 9-1 romping over Stonehill, clinching a playoff spot in the final day of the regular season in Northeast-10 Divisional action on Sunday afternoon at the Warrior Baseball Diamond.
Knowing that a win would get them into the postseason, the Warriors (26-17, 12-9 NE Div.) eased any doubt with a seven-run surge midway through the game to back sophomore Joe Carnevale (East Providence, R.I.), whose brilliance limited the visiting Skyhawks (23-22, 9-12 NE Div.) to just an unearned run over the course of the afternoon, as Merrimack wrapped up a 2-1 weekend to earn a date with Franklin Pierce on the road on Tuesday (May 7) in the first round of the NE-10 Championships.
After a walk-off win Friday and a near-rally fell short Saturday, the Warriors knew that win Sunday or a Lowell loss would seal their first playoff appearance since the spring of 2010. The River Hawks, however, put plenty of pressure on with an eight-run victory over Bentley that put the onus on Merrimack to come out with a win on Sunday.
But after four tense, scoreless innings highlighted by three consecutive scoreless frames from Carnevale and his counterpart Neal Horan, Merrimack finally broke through in the fifth. An error prolonged the inning and allowed senior Casey Cotter (North Hampton, N.H.) to single with a runner on. That set the stage for rookie Frank Crinella (Springfield, Mass.), who blasted a two-RBI double that allowed Merrimack to take first blood.
Senior Joe Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.) wrapped up the inning with a run-scoring single that put the home side ahead, 3-0, at the conclusion of five innings.
Stonehill, however, came right back in the sixth,as a dropped fly ball in the infield put runners on the corners and allowed Anthony Pago to single in the first Skyhawk run of the game with two outs. But Carnevale dug deep and struck out the final batter of the inning to limit the damage.
The visitors then threatened again in the seventh. With one away, Christian Baglini doubled to left and brought the tying run to the plate, but Carnevale again was brilliant, striking out Michael Zeiner before getting Matt Anziano looking to cap off an emphatic two-batter sequence that turned the tide back in favor of the Warriors.
Merrimack promptly added four runs in the bottom half of the seventh, capitalizing on a Stonehill error before junior Eddie Newton (North Billerica, Mass.) and freshman Mike Forgione (North Branford, Conn.) each tallied an RBI for the home side as part of a four-hit inning, giving Merrimack some breathing room and a 7-1 lead entering the eighth.
Senior Beau Batchelor (Peabody, Mass.) found himself in a jam with two on and nobody out, but the righty proceeded to strike out the next three batters he faced to quiet the Skyhawk bats again. From there on out, the Warriors tacked on two more thanks to a two-RBI single off the bat of senior Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, Mass. ) in the bottom of the eighth before Mantoni wrapped things up with a 1-2-3 ninth, prompting the long-awaited celebration while adding a new chapter to an already historic season for the Warriors.
Carnevale improved to 5-3 on the year with a dominant seven-inning, eight-strikeout performance, yielding just the one unearned run back in the sixth. Horan fell to 2-3 after surrendering six runs (two earned) despite seven strikeouts over six innings.
Merrimack's offense was highlighted by Cotter and Crinella's three-hit afternoons, with the latter tying O'Flynn with a game-high two RBI. The Warriors finished with 12 hits as a team and benefitted from four Stonehill errors.
Primed for a rematch with Franklin Pierce after taking 2-of-3 against the Ravens a week ago, Merrimack will travel to Rindge, N.H., for an NE-10 Championship First Round showdown on Tuesday (May 7) in a winner-takes-all showdown. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
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