Baseball Completes Sweep of Lesley with 6-2 Win

 
HAVERHILL, Mass. – Mitchell College completed a three-game sweep of Lesley University on Sunday afternoon by a final score of 6-2 in the finale of the New England Collegiate Conference series at Trinity Stadium.

With the win, the Mariners improve to 20-3 on the season and 11-1 in the NECC while the loss drops the Lynx to 8-18 overall and 5-9 in conference play.
 
Axel De Jesus earned the win on the mound for the guests, throwing 7.2 innings while holding the Lynx to just one run on five hits while striking out a season-high nine batters. The right-hander improved to 2-2 on the season with the victory.
 
Rafael Garcia led the Mitchell offense as he turned in a 3-for-5 perfomance at the plate with a double and three RBI. Evan Peck, Ryan Goodwin and Peter McTernan each recorded a pair of hits for the Mariners to help power the offensive attack.
 
Lesley's Casey Blanchard and Justin Clark each had a hit and a run scored for the hosts while David Hersey added a single and a RBI.
 
Ray Cohen was charged with the loss as he allowed six runs (four earned) on eight hits and struck out five over 8.0 innings of work. Koby Mitchell threw 1.0 inning of scoreless relief for the hosts.
 
The Mariners opened the scoring in the third inning as Garcia laced a two-run single to left field with two outs that plated Kyle Hartenstein and Gavin LaLima. Garcia came through with two outs once again in the top half of the fifth inning when he doubled down the right field line to score Peck and extended the lead to 3-0.
 
The Mariners, who had their lead-off batter reach base in six of the nine innings, added single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth to cap their scoring.
 
The Lynx finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh inning. Blanchard and Clark both singled to reach with one out before Kevin Hopwood loaded the bases as he reached on an error in the Mitchell infield. Lesley scored its first run of the afternoon when Hersey followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, but De Jesus escaped the jam without any further damage as he forced a ground out to end the inning.
 
Down five runs heading into the bottom of the ninth, Lesley placed runners on the corners with one out and added a run as Mike Slaby drove a sacrifice fly to right field. However, the rally fell short as Mitchell reliever Troy Stango forced a ground out to the short stop for the final out of the game to preserve the win for the Mariners.
 
Mitchell will next play at Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday, April 21 at 3:30 p.m.