Baseball Takes First Game from Lesley; Second Game Halted by Rain

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Mitchell College won the first game of its weekend series with Lesley University by a 6-3 final on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference baseball action at Alumni Field.

The teams started the second game and were in the bottom of the first inning when rain interrupted play. The umpires halted the game with the Mariners in front 2-1. The game will be completed on Sunday, April 23 at Lesley at noon, prior to the scheduled nine-inning series finale.

Game 1 – Mitchell 6, Lesley 3

A strong pitching performance from Axel De Jesus fueled the Mariners in the opener. He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and improved to 4-4 on the season with the win.

Mitchell jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning. A two-out double by Kyle Hartenstein plated the first run of the frame while Francis Prettitore knocked in the other with an infield single.

The Mariners sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth and extended the lead to 6-0. An RBI single down the left-field line by Jack Finnegan got things started, and Tristan Hurley added a sacrifice fly while Hartenstein tacked on an RBI single. 

Jacob Cervantes led off the fifth inning with a single for Lesley's first hit of the contest. Steven DePalma followed with a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. De Jesus then snagged a line drive back to the mound and made an errant throw to second for an attempt at a double play, allowing Cervantes to score to make it 6-1.

The Lynx added two more runs in the sixth to pull within three. The first three batters reached base safely, with Ryan Pumphret knocking in a run with a single to center to make it 6-2. The Mariners turned to reliever Jakari Pellegrini for three big outs, and he got two fly balls and a pop up to end the threat with a 6-3 lead intact.

Pellegrini stayed on to pitch the seventh and allowed only one hit to nail down his first career save. De Jesus, who struck out six, allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits over 5.0 innings. Lesley starter Tom Muratore allowed six runs on seven hits and struck out three over 3.1 innings of work.

Game 2 – Mitchell 2, Lesley 1 (halted in first inning)

Vincent Taliercio led off the game with a double down the left-field line and later scored on an error to give Lesley an early 1-0 lead. Mitchell responded with two runs in the home half of the first, tying the game on an RBI single by Prettitore and taking the lead on a bases-loaded walk by Peter Abate. 

Rain caused the game to be halted in the bottom of the first. When it resumes on Sunday, the Mariners will have the bases loaded with two outs with Finnegan at the plate.