WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY – The Merrimack College Baseball team's season came to an end with a hard fought loss to LIU in the semifinal matchup of the NEC Championship.
Score:
Game 1: Merrimack 9, LIU 11
Records: Merrimack (33-26, 22-11) | LIU (31-23, 24-9)
Rapid Recap
The only thing that stood in the way of the Warriors and an NEC Championship game appearance was the LIU Sharks. Merrimack had taken care of LIU in the regular season taking two of three games.
Flynn Howard would start on the mound for head coach
Brian Murphy. To this point, Howard had pitched no longer than two innings all season long. He would surpass that, dealing for 3.1 innings, striking out two and giving up just two earned runs. Through the first three innings, the Warriors scored three times coming off of a double steal, wild pitch, and a bases loaded walk. By the time Howard was pulled they held a 3-2 lead. Fast forward to the sixth inning when
Samuel Sherman singled in a run and
Cavan Brady would follow suit and do the same just a few batters later this time driving in two runs. The Warriors held a 6-2 lead in the seventh but it would not hold up. LIU scored nine unanswered runs through the seventh and eighth inning to go up 11-6. The Warriors continued to fight in the ninth with their season on the line.
Christian Scanlon would crush a two run bomb after
Braydon Dolbashian got aboard to start the inning.
Logan Castellano would have a pinch hit single right after and
Christian Gemelli would drive him in with a single in his final collegiate at bat. The score now sat 11-9 with a runner on base for Merrimack, but the comeback would stop there. The following two Warriors would strike out then fly out to end the game and subsequently their season.
Notes and Numbers
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