Links: Box Score (Game 1) |
Box Score (Game 2)
ANDOVER, Mass. – Graduate student and team captain
Riley Sorenson threw seven shutout innings to start Sunday's doubleheader for the Merrimack College baseball team, earning the win in the team's first victory of the season, 5-0, over the University of Maine Black Bears. The visitors rallied for a 14-9 win in game two, salvaging a split of the two games played at Greater Lawrence Technical School.
Sorenson registered his 12
th career win, improving to 3-1 over five career starts at the Division I level. Sophomore
Alex Haba led the team's offensive effort, going 5-for-9 at the dish with four extra-base hits including his first career homer over the two games. He hit for the cycle as part of a 4-for-5 effort in game two. Graduate student
Joey Porricelli added a round-tripper himself, while junior
Kurtis Stadnicki notched two triples and one double on the day.
The Basics
Score (G1): Merrimack 5, Maine 0
Score (G2): Maine 14,
Merrimack 9
Records: Merrimack (1-3) | Maine (3-1)
Location: Greater Lawrence Technical School | Andover, Mass.
Rapid Recap (Game 1):
- Merrimack scored twice in the bottom of the first without registering a hit. Two different Warriors were hit by pitches, two more drew walks and a throwing error on a bunt attempt by junior Michael Golankiewicz resulted in Porricelli and Haba scoring for the hosts
- Sorenson scattered four singles over the next five innings he threw against the Black Bears. The right-handed hurler recorded a one-two-three inning in the top of the fifth, and did not face more than four batters in any inning
- In the bottom of the sixth, the Warriors' bats gave their starter some insurance runs. Senior Michael Jamele knocked in Golankiewicz with a sacrifice fly, bringing Porricelli to the plate with junior Ben Nelson standing on second. The left fielder proceeded to launch his second homer in as many days overs the left field fence to make it a 5-0 game
- Sorenson threw a perfect seventh frame, retiring 11 of the final 12 batters he faced. Sophomore Justin Butera relieved Sorenson out of the bullpen in the eighth, throwing two scoreless innings to preserve the shutout
Rapid Recap (Game 2):
- Maine jumped out to an early lead, holding a 6-1 advantage through two innings in the second contest. Merrimack cut its five-run deficit down to three in the bottom of the third after Haba lined his first homer of the year, one of the two-run variety
- After senior Jake Thibault threw the first two frames, the Warriors received six innings of scoreless relief from the duo of freshman Tiernan Lynch and graduate student Stephen Fleury to allow their offense to get the team back in front
- A four-run bottom of the fifth did just that. A walk and consecutive throwing errors by the Black Bears gave the Warriors their fourth run of the game. Haba came up next and singled, collecting one RBI to make it a 6-5 contest. Then, a potential inning-ending double play went sideways for Maine as a third throwing error of the inning allowed both Porricelli and Haba to score. When the dust settled, Merrimack held a 7-6 lead going to the sixth frame
- Prior to all that, Fleury entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fifth. Despite seeing his first pitch reach the backstop, the fifth-year righty sprinted towards home to tag out the potential seventh Maine run at the plate. Fleury then proceeded to throw three innings of scoreless relief, ending the sixth, seventh and eight frames with punch outs
- Merrimack tacked on one run each in the seventh and eighth to hold a 9-6 lead going to the ninth. At that point, however, the Black Bears would score eight times in their last at-bat to create a 14-9 score. The big moment came when the visitors' fifth batter of the inning hit a three-run home run to put Maine ahead, 10-9
Notes and Notables (Game 1):
- WP – Sorenseon (1-0) | LP: Bacica (0-1)
- Sorenson's 12th win moved him into a tie for sixth in program history in career wins
- Porricelli reached base all five times he stepped into the box; in addition to the homer, he drew two walks and was hit by a pitch twice. He also scored a team-best two runs
- Stadnicki led the team in hits with two, one double and one triple
- Freshman Bryant Skurbe made his collegiate debut, drawing a bases-loaded walk in the first inning for his first career RBI
Notes and Notables (Game 2)
- WP – McKenney (1-0) | LP – Butera (0-1)
- Haba went 4-for-5 on the day with four runs scored and three RBI, setting career high in hits and runs while tying his career high in RBI. He emerged from the opening weekend with four extra-base overall, one more than he had in 15 games last spring
- Jamele enjoyed a strong game as well, totaling two hits and two runs scored
- Fleury made his first appearance since April of 2019. He did not allow a hit in 3.1 innings of work, tying his career single-game high with three strikeouts while also equaling the longest appearance of his career
- Freshman Casey Hegan joined Lynch in making their Merrimack pitching debuts
Up Next
Merrimack hosts the University of Albany for a single game this Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Greater Lawrence.
