Baseball Falls Behind Early, Loses to #1/3 Franklin Pierce, 13-1, Saturday Afternoon
Links: Box Score
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College baseball team celebrated Senior Day prior to the Warriors' Northeast Division series against No. 1/3 Franklin Pierce from the Warrior Baseball Diamond on Saturday afternoon. When the game commenced, the high-powered Ravens offense put up seven runs in the opening inning en route to a 13-1 victory.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 1 | Franklin Pierce 13
Records: Merrimack (13-12, 5-7 NE Div.) | Franklin Pierce (32-2, 10-1 NE Div.)
Location: Warrior Baseball Diamond | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
Before the contest began, the seven-member senior class was recognized in a special pregame ceremony on the field at the Warrior Baseball Diamond. Graduating student-athletes Joe Carnevale (East Providence, R.I.), Tim Cashman (Rowley, Mass.), John Pastyrnak (Bristol, Conn.), Dionys Quezada (Lawrence, Mass.), Colin Smith (Somerset, Mass.), Matt Solar (Sterling, Mass.), and Junior Vasquez (Lawrence, Mass.) were all honored before the game.
When the first inning commenced, freshman lefthander PJ Browne (Rutland, Mass.) took the hill for the Warriors, looking for his fifth win in just his sixth start. The Ravens offense had other ideas, as Franklin Pierce put up seven runs in the top of the first, sending 11 batters to the plate. Browne was hurt by a couple of errors behind him, causing three of the seven first-inning runs to come across the plate unearned.
Over the first seven frames, the Ravens built a 13-0 lead. The leaders in the Northeast Division entered the weekend receiving the program's first ever No. 1 national ranking, as Franklin Pierce had only lost twice in 32 games entering the week. Starter Brendan O'Rourke was able to shut down the Merrimack offense by only allowing three hits in seven innings of work, striking out nine batters.
The Warriors did threaten with a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the first with only one out, but O'Rourke settled down to strikeout Matt Brown (Belmont, Mass.) and get Bobby Losanno (Peabody, Mass.) to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
The Navy and Gold prevented a shutout in the bottom of the eighth inning when sophomore Cam DiSarcina (Shirley, Mass.) laced a double down the leftfield line that sliced away from the Franklin Pierce outfielder, scoring sophomore Tyler Lyne (Agawam, Mass.).
Inside The Numbers
- Browne battled through five innings after the rough first frame, allowing 10 runs, six of them were earned, on 11 hits and one walk. He struck out a season-low two batters
- Sophomore Michael Nocera (Bristol, Conn.) and Solar provided solid relief efforts for the Warriors. Nocera allowed three runs to score, but none of them were earned, while also striking out two batters. Solar tossed a scoreless ninth to lower his ERA to 1.42 on the season
- Junior Frank Crinella (East Longmeadow, Mass.) increased his hitting streak to nine games by going 2-for-4. He also has notched four straight multi-hit games. DiSarcina has collected at least one base knock in eight straight, with six of those contests being multi-hit games
- The Warriors defense hampered any sort of comeback effort, as Merrimack committed five errors in the field
Up Next
The series concludes tomorrow with a doubleheader that begins at 12 p.m. The first pitch of Game 2 with be at approximately 3 p.m.
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