Baseball Drops Doubleheader at Molloy Saturday
UNIONDALE, N.Y. – The Merrimack College baseball team suffered its first losses of the season on Saturday afternoon, dropping both games of a doubleheader against the Molloy College Lions at the Mitchell Field Complex on Long Island.
The Basics
Score (G1): Molloy 4, Merrimack 0
Score (G2): Molloy 2, Merrimack 0
Records: Merrimack (5-2) | Molloy (6-3)
Location: Mitchell Field Complex | Uniondale, N.Y.
How It Happened (G1)
Molloy jumped on Merrimack in the top of the first, getting to Warriors' starter Perry Kulaga (Lincroft, N.J.). Deilyn Guzman started the game with a single and Anthony Alberghina played him with a RBI double to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage. Molloy added another run into the bottom of the third to give the hosts a 2-0 lead through three frames.
Two-out walks from Cam DiSarcina (Shirley, Mass.) and Sean O'Neill (Norwood, Mass.) gave the Navy and Gold their first baserunners of the day in the top of the fourth, but the rally ended there. Lions starting pitcher Ronald Bauer continued to stymie the Warriors attack, retiring nine consecutive batters after the fourth, getting through seven no-hit innings.
With the Lions lead up to 4-0, senior Bobby Losanno (Peabody, Mass.) led the eighth off with a walk and two more base-on-balls from Ryan Petrone (Leicester, Mass.) and Chris Cimmino (Orange, Conn.) loaded the bases for the Warriors. Bauer buckled down, however, forcing an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam unscathed.
Junior leftfielder Tyler Lyne (Agawam, Mass.) hit a single to begin the ninth inning, ending Bauer's no-hit bid, and DiSarcina followed with his second walk of the game. Bauer settked down from there, notching a strikeout and another double play to end the game and record the complete-game shutout.
How It Happened (G2)
After winning his first start of the season last weekend, senior lefty Zach Schindler (Halifax, Mass.) toed the rubber in the second game, which would be a seven-inning contest. Neither team scored over the first two innings, and after another scoreless inning in the top of the third, the Lions struck first in the bottom of the frame.
Schindler got the first two outs of the inning, but a double followed by a run and a single allowed Molloy to score one run. A sacrifice fly pushed the hosts advantage to 2-0 entering the fifth inning.
With the score still 2-0 entering Merrimack's final at-bats, an infield single from Matt Nicholson (Rockland, Mass.) followed by a two-out hit from Pat Florence (Lowell, Mass.) put the game-tying run at first with Forgione at the plate in the top of the seventh. Merrimack's shortstop hit into the game's final out, however, skying a fly ball to centerfield to end the game.
Inside The Numbers
- Kulaga's final line: 5.1 innings, 4 hits, three runs, 1 walk and four strikeouts
- Schindler's final line: 6 innings, 4 hits, two runs, 1 walk and four strikeouts (CG)
- Lupi posted his second strong performance of the season after starting last weekend. He tossed the final 2.2 innings of the first game, not allowing a run and recording one strikeout. Dating back to last season, he has allowed just one run in his last 13.2 IP
- The double-play ball hurt the Warriors offense on Saturday, grounding into three of them
Up Next
Merrimack concludes the series with Molloy tomorrow afternoon in the series finale at noon. Sophomore PJ Browne (Rutland, Mass.) will make his second start of the season.
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