NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team picked up a pair of wins in New England Collegiate Conference play on Saturday afternoon, topping Southern Vermont College by final scores of 9-7 and 9-4 at Alumni Field.
The Mariners (10-2 overall, 5-0 NECC) remained unbeaten in NECC play as eight players knocked in a run on the day, including six with two or more. Pitchers Al Jordan Johnson and Axel De Jesus picked up wins on the mound, the former in a starting role and the latter out of the bullpen.
Southern Vermont (3-11 overall, 0-2 NECC) will host the final game of the series on Wednesday, March 23 at 1 p.m. Prior to that date, Mitchell will host Coast Guard Academy on Monday, March 21 at 3:30 p.m.
Game 1 – Mitchell 9, Southern Vermont 7 (note: Mitchell batted as home team)
Mitchell jumped on top 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning and never trailed. Francis Prettitore had an RBI triple in the frame while Chandler Whitney added an RBI single.
Southern Vermont got a run back in the second on an RBI single by Dan Mason to make it 3-1. Mitchell responded with a four-run third inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by Whitney and a two-out, two-run single through the left side by Markus Melendez.
After Mitchell went up 8-1 on an RBI single by Prettitore in the fourth, the Mountaineers pushed three runs across in the fifth. RJ Pingitore plated the first run with a single to center and moved to third on a double by Cody Sullivan. A Mitchell error allowed both runners to score as SVC trimmed the deficit to 8-4.
Mitchell got a run back in the home half of the fifth, but Southern Vermont rallied for three in the sixth to make it a two-run game. The Mountaineers scored two runs on ground balls by Zack Stacey and Pingitore and another on a passed ball. With the tying run at the plate, Johnson ended the threat by getting a fly ball to center to end the inning.
Mitchell reliever Domenick Giaramida gave up a leadoff single in the seventh but retired the next three batters to nail down his second save of the season. Johnson improved to 3-0 with the win and struck out six in 6.0 innings of work.
SVC starter Joshua Hay gave up eight runs, only one of which was earned, in 4.0 innings.
Game 2 – Mitchell 9, Southern Vermont 4 (note: SVC batted as home team)
Anthony Mercuri drew a bases-load walk in the bottom of the first inning to stake Southern Vermont to an early lead. Mitchell starter TJ Shamas gave up a single, hit a batter and issued three walks in the frame before getting a strikeout to strand three runners.
Mitchell answered with three runs in the top of the second to pull in front for good. Whitney knocked in the first run with a single to right-center, and Garet Griffin followed with a sacrifice fly to plate another. Tristan Hurley then delivered a two-out single to score Whitney for the 3-1 lead.
The Mariners tacked on a run in the third as Neftali Arroyo cranked his first home run of the season over the left field fence to lead off the inning. Mitchell added another run in the fourth on an RBI double by Arroyo, who finished with three hits in the contest.
The Mountaineers scored twice in the fifth inning to pull within 5-3. Mercuri singled to right to drive in the first run while Mason delivered an RBI double to center to plate the second.
A two-out triple by Kyle Hartenstein brought in the first of two runs for the Mariners in the sixth. Mitchell added two more runs in the seventh on the strength of a sacrifice fly by Griffin and a ground out by Steven Pagan.
De Jesus, who replaced Shamas to start the second inning, went 5.2 innings and allowed three runs (one earned) on seven hits. He finished with three strikeouts and improved to 2-1 on the season.
SVC starter Jean-Carlos Berasgoico tossed 5.2 innings and allowed seven runs (four earned) on seven hits while striking out five.
