Baseball Drops Series Opener at Elms

HOLYOKE, Mass. – The Elms College baseball squad used a pair of three-run innings to defeat visiting Mitchell College, 7-2, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) battle at MacKenzie Stadium Thursday night.

With the win, Elms improved to 7-13 on the season  and 3-3 in the NECC. Mitchell dipped to 6-2 in conference play and 17-8 overall. The two teams will wrap up the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 15 in New London at noon.

The Blazers jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning as Aedin Wadja drew a leadoff walk, followed by a double from Stephen Harrison into the left-field corner to put runners in scoring position. With one out, Kyle Platner laced an RBI single through the right side of the infield to bring home Wadja and hand Elms a 1-0 lead.

The Blazers created separation in the fourth inning, loading the bases with no outs behind singles from Jordan Zima and Tim Gelzinis. With the sacks full, Brian Hungerford delivered a two-run triple to the right-field fence, bringing home Zima and Platner while Gelzinis was thrown out at home on the relay. Hungerford later trotted home on an RBI single from Dan Brunetti make it a 4-0 Elms advantage.

The Mariners cracked the scoreboard in the fifth inning with a pair of runs on an RBI single from Steven Gonzalez and a sacrifice fly from Kyle Hartenstein to cut the deficit in half. In the bottom of the seventh, the Blazers added a trio of insurance runs as Harrison clubbed a two-run triple into the right-center field gap, followed by an RBI groundout from Zima to make it 7-2.

Elms starter Matt Plasse (3-1 overall) was solid on the mound to collect the victory, allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits with a season-high nine strikeouts. Gelzinis and Kevin Banas delivered scoreless innings of relief.

Mitchell's Jack Finnegan and Markus Melendez tallied two hits apiece, while Finnegan and Brody Adams scored the lone runs for the Mariners. Axel De Jesus (3-3 overall) took the loss, surrendering five runs on seven hits with four strikeouts.