Baseball Keeps Rolling with 7-3 Win vs. Saint Anselm
Links: Box Score
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College baseball team improved to 8-2 in the month of April with its 7-3 victory over the visiting Saint Anselm Hawks on Thursday afternoon from the Warrior Baseball Diamond. The Warriors picked up their fourth win in the Northeast Division, while the Hawks fell to 3-3 in divisional play.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 7, Saint Anselm 3
Records: Merrimack (20-10, 4-1 NE Div.) | Saint Anselm (7-19, 3-3 NE Div.)
Location: Warrior Baseball Diamond | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
Each offense posted two runs apiece in their first at-bats. The Hawks hit four straight singles in the inning to push across their first two runs of the day. Back-to-back singles for the Warriors from Mike Forgione (North Branford, Conn.) and Tyler Lyne (Agawam, Mass.) set up a two-on, no-out situation for Cam Disarcina (Shirley, Mass.). Merrimack's No. 3 hitter laced a double down the left-field line to plate both and tie the game at two-all.
Saint Anselm scored a single run in the third, which Merrimack countered in the fourth to make it 3-3, which is where the score stood entering the bottom of the seventh. With runners on second and third, the Hawks opted to intentionally walk Matt Brown (Belmont, Mass.) to battle Matt Nicholson (Rockland, Mass.) with the bases loaded. The sophomore responded by slapping a single through the right side, scoring Lyne and DiSarcina.
Merrimack's next three hitters provided productive at-bats. Freshman Matthew Ronai (Orange, Conn.) lined a single to right field, and a bobble by the rightfielder allowed Brown to score. A single from Pat Florence (Lowell, Mass.) loaded the bases again, and Bobby Losanno (Peabody, Mass.) hit a sacrifice fly to account for the fourth run of the inning, giving the Warriors a 7-3 lead.
From the fourth inning on, the Hawks only got four baserunners on junior starter Perry Kulaga (Lincroft, N.J.). He set a season high with nine strikeouts, eight of which were of the swinging variety, and picked up his second complete game of the season. Kulaga has allowed three earned runs or less in six of his seven starts this season.
Inside The Numbers
- Kulaga's final line (W, 4-1): 9.0 IP, 12 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K's
- For the first time since the 2009-10 campaign, Merrimack's top three starters in terms of innings pitched have at least four wins in a season. Kulaga picked up his career-high extending fourth win of the year, joining teammates PJ Browne (Rutland, Mass.) and Zach Schindler (Halifax, Mass.) with a team-high four victories
- All nine of Merrimack's hitters posted at least one hit in the game, with four players posting multi-hit contests
- Lyne increased his team lead to 30 in the RBI department, which ranks second in the conference
- The win marked the Warriors' 20th overall this year, the 12th time in program history that the Navy and Gold have reached the 20-win plateau. Merrimack is also the third team in the Northeast-10 to reach 20 victories, joining division rivals No. 4 Franklin Pierce and No. 8 Southern New Hampshire
Up Next
Merrimack travels up to Colchester, Vt. this weekend for three-game series with Saint Michael's College. Saturday will be a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. following by a single game on Sunday, which is also a noon start.
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