Molloy Rallies for 8-2 Win vs. Baseball Sunday
Links: Box Score
UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Junior Matt Nicholson (Rockland, Mass.) hit his second homer in as many games, but the Molloy College Lions rallied to prevail, 8-2, on Sunday afternoon to split a two-game series with the Merrimack College baseball team from the Mitchell Athletic Complex.
The Basics
Score: Molloy 8, Merrimack 2
Records: Merrimack (3-4) | Molloy (2-7)
Location: Mitchel Athletic Complex | Uniondale, N.Y.
How It Happened
- 2nd inning – Nicholson crushed a solo shot to center field for the second straight game, staking the Warriors to a 1-0 lead. Classmate PJ Browne (Rutland, Mass.) took the hill for the Warriors and loaded the bases in the bottom half before recording three straight strikeouts to get out of the inning without relenting a run
- 3rd inning – Senior left fielder Ryan Petrone (Leicester, Mass.) worked a leadoff walk and after a single from redshirt-junior Tyler Lyne (Agawam, Mass.), senior Cam DiSarcina (Shirley, Mass.) laced a RBI double to left field to score Petrone.
- 4th inning – The three straight punch outs for Browne in the second started a stretch of nine consecutive batters retired for the third-year southpaw. The Rutland native recorded seven strikeouts through four innings
- 6th inning – After getting one run back in the fifth, the Lions took the lead in the sixth. With two outs and a runner on first, a base hit to right field plated the game-tying run. Austin Nieves then stepped into the box and struck a go-ahead triple to make it a 3-2 game before Browne was removed in favor of sophomore Tucker Lord (Cromwell, Conn.). Lord recorded the final out on a popup
- 8th inning – The Lions got to Lord for one insurance run in the seventh to make it a 4-2 game, and then added four more in the eight to increase their advantage to six runs, 8-2
Inside The Numbers
- WP: Catinella (1-2) | LP: Browne (0-1)
- Browne finished the afternoon with 11 strikeouts, tying his second-most punch outs in the 21st career appearance for Merrimack's lefty. He now has 138 K's in 131.2 innings of work over the last three years
- Nicholson hit his second round-tripper in as many games in Uniondale, with both shots going to straightaway center field. Both of them were also solo shots
- Six different Lions recorded RBIs on Sunday with the big blows coming from a pair of run-scoring triples
- Nicholson and Petrone led the Warriors by reaching base twice on the afternoon, with the latter working a pair of walks from the No. 9 spot
Up Next
Merrimack returns to action on Monday, March 13, when the Navy and Gold begin an eight-game swing in the Sunshine State against No. 1 Nova Southeastern – the defending national champions – at 6 p.m. from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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