ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College baseball team dropped a home conference series to Mount St. Mary's. The Warriors secured a win in the first game of the series before losing games two and three.
The Basics
Scores:
Game 1: Merrimack 8 | Mount St. Mary's 3
Game 2: Merrimack 2 | Mount St. Mary's 4
Game 3: Merrimack 6 | Mount St. Mary's 9
Records: Merrimack (8-18-1, 6-6) | Mount St. Mary's (12-14, 6-6)
How it Happened
- The first two games of the series we're played as part of a Friday double header. Game one saw Andrew Heffernan on the bump to get it going for the Warriors. He pitched an absolute gem going 8.0 innings striking out four batters and giving up just one earned run. While on the mound the Merrimack bats we're hot. Eight hits and eight runs came across the plate on the way to the 8-3 win. Harry Painter and Brooks Craigue led Merrimack to the victory as each had a multi-hit afternoon.
- Campbell Cassidy started on the mound for Merrimack in the second game of the doubleheader. He did not give up any runs but went just 1.1 innings pitched before being relieved by James Nichols. With Nichols on the bump, the Warriors scored the first two runs of the game off of a Cavan Brady RBI single and a Harry Painter solo homer in the third and fourth inning respectively. Nichols held down the Mountaineers all the way until the seventh inning when Mount St. Mary's scored three runs, two of which were unearned, to take a 3-2 lead. The Mount added another score in the top of the ninth to make it 4-2 and Merrimack was unable to string together enough hits to complete the late inning comeback.
- Game three was played on Sunday afternoon with the winner of the matchup taking the series. Nick Hunkele was the starter for Merrimack. He went 3.1 innings pitched giving up five earned and six runs overall to the Mountaineers. Still the Warriors would not go away quietly as they crossed the plate five times through the first four innings with a pair of RBI's coming from Brooks Craigue and Cavan Brady. Samuel Franco relieved Hunkele and held down the potent Mount St. Mary's bats for the 2.2 innings he was on the mound. He struck out four batters and gave up just two hits. After he was replaced, the Mountaineers scored the next three runs to go up 9-5 going into the ninth. Matt DeShiro scored in the ninth but that was all that came across for Merrimack as they lost 9-6.
Notes and Numbers
Up Next
Merrimack has another busy week ahead that starts with a midweek road game against Holy Cross on April 1
st at 5:00 PM in Worcester.
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