Baseball Knocks Off Felician, 12-5, to Wrap Up Season-Opening Weekend in Myrtle Beach

2/26/2017 12:00:00 AM

Links: Box Score (Dominican) | Box Score (Felician)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Merrimack College baseball team stumbled out of the gate in its final day of play in the Northeast Challenge in Myrtle Beach, S.C. as the Warriors opened play on Sunday with a loss to Dominican (N.Y.) College. The Navy and Gold rebounded and defeated Felician, 12-5, in their final game behind the first-ever victory for sophomore starter Tucker Lord (Cromwell, Conn.).

The Basics
Score (G1): Dominican 21, Merrimack 1
Score (G2): Merrimack 12, Felician 5
Records: Merrimack (2-3) | Dominican (3-1) | Felician (3-2)
Location: The Ripken Experience | Myrtle Beach, S.C.

How It Happened (G1)

• 1^st inning – Redshirt-sophomore Garrett Hudson (Greenfield, Mass.) got the ball for his first start of 2017. After moving within one out of escaping the inning, the Chargers got to Hudson for a two-out RBI single to take a 1-0 lead
• 3^rd inning – After two punch outs in the second and a quick top half of the third, Hudson kept the deficit at one entering the bottom of the third. Freshman outfielder Michael Mercuri (Lowell, Mass.) got on first before stealing second to move into scoring position. Senior leftfielder Ryan Petrone (Leicester, Mass.) kept his scorching start going with a double down the left-field line to tie the game at one-all
• 6^th inning – The Chargers broke the game open in the sixth. With Hudson still on the mound, Dominican used a series of singles combined with a safety-squeeze play to make it 4-1 and chased Merrimack's starter from the game. Senior Matt DiNello (Southington, Conn.) came out of the pen and relented five runs, as the Chargers held a 9-1 lead through six
• 7^th inning – Six more runs came across for Dominican against Merrimack hurlers Stephen Fleury (Wilbraham, Mass.), Jeremy Blake-Johnson (Worcester, Mass.) and Cam Monagle (Cambridge, Mass.)
• 9^th inning – Freshman Dylan Stevens (Beverly, Mass.) made his Merrimack debut as part of a six-run ninth inning, replacing Monagle as defensive miscues for the Warriors played a part in the additional runs scoring

How It Happened (G2)

• 1^st inning – Lord made his debut as Merrimack's final starter during the Warriors' five-game weekend in Myrtle Beach. He worked a scoreless first,  then Merrimack's bats came alive. The Warriors batted around, as Petrone moved up to the leadoff spot and reached to start the frame. With the bases loaded and sophomore Matthew Ronai (Orange, Conn.) at the plate, a passed ball scored Petrone. Ronai then crushed a triple to center, scoring senior Cam DiSarcina (Shirley, Mass.) and junior Matt Nicholson (Rockland, Mass.). Three freshmen accounted for the remaining three RBI in the six-run inning. Rookies Thomas Joyce (Newton, Mass.), Joey Porricelli (Monroe, Conn.) and Ethan Sprague (Leominster, Mass.) all knocked in runs, as the latter two made their first career starts. Merrimack led 6-0 entering the second
• 2^nd inning –Felician got one run back in the second, but a solo homer from Hoalcraft – the first of his three-year career – and another RBI for Porricelli on a fielder's choice increased the advantage to seven, 8-1
• 6^th inning – Fast forward four innings, and Lord ran into his first prolonged trouble after putting up zeros in four of the first five frames. Senior Perry Kulaga (Lincroft, N.J.) replaced Merrimack's sophomore after a series of two hit batsmen and a walk plated two runs. The Golden Falcons added one more to make it an 8-5 game, but a solo homer from Ronai immediately got one run back for the Warriors in the bottom half
• 7^th inning – Kulaga allowed a walk and a single to start the seventh before giving way to sophomore Daniel Amidon (Andover, Mass.). The second-year southpaw collected a pair of strikeouts, but did allow one inherited runner to score
• 8^th inning – Senior Nate Spielvogel (Brookline, Mass.) came on for his first appearance in the eighth, and ended the inning with his second punch out with runners in scoring position for Felician. Merrimack tacked on three insurance runs in the eighth thanks to a pair of fielder's choices and a Felician error, taking a 12-5 lead into the ninth
• 9^th inning – Spielvogel mowed down Felician one-two-three in the top of the ninth to give Merrimack a seven-run win to close out play in Myrtle

Inside The Numbers

• G1: WP – Broderick (1-0) | LP – Hudson (0-1)
• G2: WP – Lord (1-0) | LP – Brooks (0-1)
• Lord's final line finished at 5.1 innings pitched, allowing four runs (2 ER) and four hits to go along with four strikeouts. The starter joined junior lefty Anthony Lupi (Dover, N.H.) as hurlers who emerged from the weekend with victories
• Merrimack's middle of the order carried the squad against Felician. Nicholson, Ronai and Joyce – No. 4-6 in the order – combined to hit 7-of-12 with three extra-base hits and four RBI. The trio combined to score eight of Merrimack's 12 runs, with Ronai and Nicholson crossing the plate three times each to lead the team
• Hoalcraft's and Ronai's dingers registered as the fifth and sixth of the weekend for the Navy and Gold. Through five games, the Warriors are one-third of the way to last season's year-end total (18)
• The program's all-time saves leader, Spielvogel started his senior year off strong with two innings of scoreless relief. He punched out three batters in the appearance, combining with Amidon to strike out five of the game's final nine outs

Up Next
Merrimack heads to Long Island this weekend for three games against the Molloy College Lions this weekend, beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday in Uniondale, N.Y.

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