Baseball Slugs Past Coast Guard

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team posted a 13-1 victory over Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference match-up at Alumni Field.

Eric Marriott went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and three RBI to lead the Mariners, who finished with 14 hits in the contest. Markus Melendez, Sam Majewski and Justin Johnson also had multiple hits on the day.

Mitchell starter Ryan Solimine turned in his best outing of the season, tossing 6.0 scoreless innings while allowing three hits and striking out four. He improved to 2-1 on the season.

Coast Guard loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first, but Solimine got a strike out and ground out to escape unscathed. Marriott then led off the bottom of the frame with a solo shot over the right-center fence to put the Mariners on the board. Two batters later, a double by Steve Cochrane drove in Melendez to make it 2-0.

Mitchell led 3-0 before breaking the game open with a six-run fifth inning. Dougie DelaCruz got things going with an RBI single to center, and Majewski followed with an RBI single through the left side of the infield. Anthony Diaz and Melendez later tacked on two-run singles to expand the lead to 9-0.

Marriott hit a two-run homer—to virtually the same spot in right-center—to highlight a four-run seventh inning. The long ball was his team-leading fourth of the season, and it gave him the first multi-homer game of his Mitchell career.

The Bears plated their lone run in the ninth on an RBI single to right by Trey Rittenhouse.

Coast Guard starter Brett Sullivan yielded three runs (one earned) on three hits in 2.0 innings of work. He dropped to 1-2 on the season.

Mitchell (7-5 overall) will next host Castleton University on Saturday, March 23 at noon. Coast Guard (5-3 overall) returns to action at home against Westfield State University on Wednesday, March 20 at 3:30 p.m.