Baseball Stymied at Nichols

DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College baseball team defeated Mitchell College 3-2 Wednesday afternoon in non-conference action at the Nichols Baseball Field.

Thomas Hyland pitched 5.0 innings of no-hit ball to earn the second win of his collegiate career. Hyland allowed one run (unearned) on three walks while striking out two to move to 2-0 on the year. The Bison then turned to the bullpen to shut the door on the Mariners. Kevin Kirley earned his conference-leading eighth save of the season. 

The Bison were led by Cam Cook who finished 2-for-4 with a run scored. Cook has now reached base in 33 consecutive games dating back to last season. Ross Caswell scored a pair of runs while going 1-for-2 on the game. The Bison also saw hits from Benjamin Harrow, Spencer Madden and Brendan Martin. 

The Mariners only tallied four hits on the game with Garet Griffin and Chandler Whitney making up two of them while also scoring both runs. 

Nichols took the lead 1-0 in the first after Matt Hardy lined out to left field, bringing home Cook. Mitchell evened things in the fourth when Whitney scored on a passed ball, but Martin came up in the fifth to give the Bison the lead right back. He hit an RBI single to right field that scored Caswell for the 2-1 lead.

The Bison added an insurance run in the seventh when Martin hit a sacrifice bunt to bring home Caswell again. The Mariners cut into the deficit in the ninth when infield singles by Griffin and Jack Finnegan put runners at the corners with one out. Brandon Russo drove in a run with a ground ball back to the pitcher, and in the process the tying run moved into scoring position. However, Kirley struck out the next batter to secure the win for Nichols.

Mitchell starter Bryton Ferris allowed three runs on six hits over 6.0 innings and was saddled with the loss. Nic Vlaun, Brian Ricker and Antonio Cancel combined for 2.0 shutout innings of relief and didn't allow a hit between them.

Mitchell returns to action in a conference doubleheader at Becker College on Thursday, April 21 at 3:30 p.m.