Baseball's 19-Run Performance Highlights Doubleheader Split of Dominican Sunday
Links: Box Score (G1) | Box Score (G2)
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College baseball team scored its most runs at the Warrior Baseball Diamond in four years in a 19-4 victory over Dominican College on Sunday afternoon. The win started a twin billing between the Warriors and Chargers, with the visitors taking the second game, 10-1.
The Basics
Score (G1): Merrimack 19, Dominican 4
Score (G2): Dominican 10, Merrimack 1
Records: Merrimack (8-4) | Dominican (5-6)
Location: Warrior Baseball Diamond| North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened (G1)
Senior southpaw Zach Schindler (Halifax, Mass.) toed the rubber in the first game, looking for his second win of the season. After a scoreless first inning, the Warriors put up five in bottom of the second. All nine batters came to the plate in the inning, with sophomore Ryan Petrone (Leicester, Mass.) knocking in the first run of the day. All four of Merrimack's hits in the inning were singles, staking Schindler to the 5-0 advantage.
Dominican got one run back in the third on a solo homer, but that was the only run the Chargers would get off the Merrimack starter. Merrimack pushed five more runs across in the fifth, with Matt Brown (Belmont, Mass.) and Matt Nicholson (Rockland, Mass.) scoring their second runs of the game, respectively. The score read 10-1 after five, putting Schindler in position to get the win.
Dominican scored three times in the seventh, before junior Joe Velozo (Tewksbury, Mass.) came on to get out of the jam, only allowing one of his two inherited runners to score. The lefty entered the game with runners on second and third and no one out in the inning.
The Navy and Gold combined to score nine runs in the seventh and eighth innings, including two-RBI doubles from Brown and sophomore Mike Hoalcraft (Fayetteville, N.Y.). Freshman Riley Sorenson (Sandwich, Mass.) tossed a scoreless ninth, as the Warriors took the opener behind a 19-run, 16-hit output from the offense.
How It Happened (G2)
The second contest went at a much brisker pace, with both teams combining to score just one run through five innings. Sophomore Anthony Lupi (Dover, N.H.), starting against the Chargers for the second time in two weeks, surrendered an unearned run in the third but other than that got through the first half of the game unscathed.
The Warriors first run of the game came in the opening frame, when Cam DiSarcina (Shirley, Mass.) hit a run-scoring double, as Mike Forgione (North Branford, Conn.) trotted home from second base.
The Chargers got to Lupi in the sixth. With runners in scoring position and two outs, shortstop Joseph Libio hit a seeing-eye single through the middle and into centerfield to make it a 3-1 contest. Libio totaled three hits and reached base in all four at-bats on the day.
Merrimack's best chance to tie came in the bottom of the frame after DiSarcina led the inning off with a single. Nicholson skied a two-out fly ball to the warning track in center, but it landed just short of the 390-marker for the third out of the frame.
Dominican added seven runs in its final three at-bats, as the Chargers scored nine of their 10 runs over the final four innings.
Inside The Numbers
- Schindler's final line (W): 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K's
- Lupi's final line (L): 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K's
- Losanno posted another strong afternoon at the plate. He finished with five hits in the two games, including two hits, two RBI and three runs scored in the first contest. He saw his average rise more than 100 points to where it started at to begin the weekend
- After DiSarcina was the lone starter to go hitless in the opening game, he responded by collect three base knocks in the night cap
- The 19-run performance was the most scored on campus since April of 2011, when Merrimack scored 17 runs in a win over Bentley. Junior Tyler Lyne (Agawam, Mass.) set a career high with five RBI, as did Hoalcraft, who knocked in three runs
- Hoalcraft led the group of reserves in the opener that posted strong performances. Freshman Anthony Garbarino (Ossining, N.Y.) scored his first career run and swiped his first career bag, while rookie Matthew Ronai (Orange, Conn.) picked up his second hit of the and also came across to score
Up Next
The Warriors return home on Wednesday afternoon against American International, which marks the league opener, at 3:30 p.m. from the Warrior Baseball Diamond.
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