Baseball Advances to NECC Title Round

NEW LONDON, Conn. - Mitchell College wrapped up a 14-2 win over Becker College on Sunday morning to earn its third straight trip to the NECC Championship title round. Neither side scored in the final two innings of the contest, which was halted on Saturday in the top of the eighth due to darkness.

Kenneth Olszewski hit two home runs while Peter McTernan added another for the Mariners. It marked the first multi-homer game of Olszewski's career and the first long ball of McTernan's Mitchell career.

Mitchell sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in the first inning as the offense, which was dormant the game prior, finally came to life. Gavin LaLima led off the game with a triple to right and came home on a two-run homer by Olszewski that was launched over the left field fence. A single by Kyle Hartenstein, a double by Ryan Goodwin and a single by LaLima also plated runs in the frame as the Mariners got into the Becker bullpen early.

The Mariners added three runs in the second inning to bump the lead to double digits. Hartenstein knocked in another run with a single to right-center while Goodwin added a two-run single to left. A two-run homer McTernan in the fourth inning extended Mitchell's lead to 12-0.

The Hawks got on the scoreboard in the sixth on a two-run homer by Matthew Consigli. His shot over the left field fence was his fifth long ball of the season. Olszewski added his second homer of the game in the bottom of the frame, a solo shot to left that brought his season total to three. Neftali Arroyo then put the Mariners up 14-2 with a sacrifice fly to right that scored Peck.

Mitchell's Axel De Jesus was the pitcher of record when the game was halted on Saturday and earned the win. He allowed two runs on six hits over 7.0 innings and struck out five batters. Evan McClain tossed 2.0 innings of scoreless relief to finish out the win.

Keon Jenkins got the starting nod for Becker and gave up seven runs (six earned) on five hits and didn't make it out of the first inning.

Mitchell will face Elms College in the title round on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. The Mariners would need to beat the Blazers twice to earn the NECC title.