Strong Pitching, Timely Hitting Powers Baseball to Sweep of Stonehill Saturday

Links: Box Score (Game 1) | Box Score (Game 2)
Video: Cimmino/Lord Interview

WESTWOOD, Mass. – Sophomore Tucker Lord (Cromwell, Conn.) and junior PJ Browne (Rutland, Mass.) delivered eight-inning performances on the mound, senior Chris Cimmino (Orange, Conn.) posted a career offensive output in Saturday's second game with three hits and five RBI and the Merrimack College baseball team won both games of its doubleheader against Stonehill College to sweep the series with the Skyhawks. The Warriors improved to 8-1-1 over their last 10 games to go over .500 for the first time this season.

The Basics
Score (G1): Merrimack 5, Stonehill 2
Score (G2): Merrimack 7, Stonehill 1
Records: Merrimack (12-10-1, 4-0-1 NE Div.) | Stonehill (7-16, 2-4 NE Div.)
Location: Xaverian Brothers High School | Westwood, Mass.      

Inning By Inning (G1)

• Top 1^st – Lord started his day off with a strikeout, but an infield single followed by a groundout put a runner on second for the Skyhawks. Stonehill converted with two outs, using a grounder through the left side to score the first run of the game
• Top 4^th – Lord struck out the first batter of the frame to retire his seventh straight, but an error followed by a hit and a walk loaded the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly scored the Skyhawks' second run, but Merrimack's righty forced a grounder to shortstop to minimize the damage
• Top 5^th – After a leadoff single, junior Ricky Smith (Weymouth, Mass.) made a diving snag on a short popup after an attempted sacrifice bunt for the frame's first out. Then senior Paul Buckley (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) snagged a short hop on a liner to second base and turned a four-six-three double play to end the inning
• Top 6^th – Defense reigned again for the Warriors. With one out and on a hit-and-run play, Buckley collected a chopper up the midddle, stepped on second and fired to senior Cam DiSarcina (Shirley, Mass.) at first to end the inning
• Bottom 6^th – Redshirt-junior Tyler Lyne (Agawam, Mass.) beat out an infield single up the middle, and advanced to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch. Freshman Joey Porricelli (Monroe, Conn.) pushed a single through the right side for Merrimack's first run, then DiSarcina hit a double to the deepest part of the park that allowed Porricelli to race around from first, tying the game at 2-2
• Bottom 7^th  – The Warriors took the lead in the seventh, executing on more two-out magic after seven two-out runs yesterday. Merrimack loaded the bases as DiSarcina – the Warriors' RBI leader – dug into the box. The team captain worked a five-pitch walk to make it a 3-2 game, then cleanup hitter Matt Nicholson (Rockland, Mass.) rolled a two-RBI single into right field increasing Merrimack's advantage to three
• Top 8^th – Lord worked his final inning, and got out of another jam. Stonehill put runners on first and third with two outs, sending the tying run to the play, and Merrimack's sophomore recorded his eighth punch out on a breaking ball looking to get back to the dugout
• Top 9^th – Junior Joe Westerman (Maynard, Mass.) came on for the ninth, and sprinkled in two outs with two walks to bring the tying run to the plate. Westerman got ahead in the count and ended the game on a force out at second to collect his first save of the season

Inning By Inning (G2)

• Top 1^st – On the first pitch of the game, Stonehill's Ben Monte hit a leadoff homer over the 343-marker in right field. Junior southpaw PJ Browne (Rutland, Mass.) responded by striking out the side to end the frame
• Bottom 2^nd – Merrimack sent all nine batters to the plate in a four-run second. Sophomore Matthew Ronai (Orange, Conn.) and senior Ryan Petrone (Leicester, Mass.) hit singles and freshman Thomas Joyce (Newton, Mass.) drew a walk to load the bases. Senior Chris Cimmino (Orange, Conn.) stepped in and worked a 10 pitch at-bat after falling down 0-2 to drive a bases-clearing double into right-center. DiSarcina added a sacrifice fly to give Merirmack a 4-1 lead through two frames
• Top 3^rd – Already extending his hitting streak to 22 games, Ronai hit a fastball out of Xaverian for his third homer of the year to start the third. Cimmino's second double of the game scored Petrone, increasing the Warriors' lead to 6-1
• Top 6^th – Browne kept rolling through the sixth, striking out the side to bring his K total to 10 for the afternoon and sitting the Skyhawks down in four batters
• Top 8^th – Sitting just outside the 100-pitch plateau, Browne notched a perfect eighth inning to end his outing. Her retired the first two batters on grounders before ending his outing with his 13^th strikeout of the day

Game 1 Notes

• G1: WP – Lord (2-1) | LP – Shore (1-4) | S:  Westerman (1)
• Lord posted his best effort of the season, setting personal bests in innings pitched (8.0), strikeouts (8) and fewest earned runs allowed (1). He entered the game with nine punch outs on the year, and nearly doubled his output on Saturday alone
• Westerman recorded his first-ever save in his 17^th career appearance out of the bullpen
• Merrimack's top of the order took care of business in the order, with three of Merrimack's first four hitters recording two-hit efforts. Porricelli, DiSarcina and Nicholson – No. 2-4 in the Warriors' order – accounted for all five RBI in the game
• Ronai went 1-for-4 on the afternoon to extend his hitting streak to 21 games

Game 2 Notes

• G2: WP – Browne (1-2) | LP – Roberts (0-3)
• Browne fell one punch out shy of tying his career best set last season against Queens (N.Y.) College (14). The southpaw notched four one-two-three innings on the day, and struck out the side twice. He currently leads the NE10 and is 12^th nationwide with 13.18 strikeouts per nine innings
• Cimmino played behind the plate and set career highs in hits (3) and RBI (5), striking a pair of doubles to go along with a single and a sacrifice fly. He increased his season average to .256 and now has nine RBI over 39 at-bats and 10 appearances
• Merrimack's bottom of lineup came through for the Warriors, with No. 5-9 in the order hitting 9-for-14 with six runs scored and six RBI. Ronai, Petrone and Cimmino all had multi-hit efforts
• Ronai's hitting streak extended to 22 games in his first at-bat, which he followed with a no-doubter of a round-tripper. The second-year DH is tied for the NE10 lead with three homers

Up Next
The Warriors travel to Pace University tomorrow for a doubleheader with the Setters in Pleasantville, N.Y. beginning at 2:30 p.m. from Finnerty Field.  

--

For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.