Baseball Slugs to Doubleheader Sweep of Husson

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team swept a non-conference doubleheader from Husson University on Sunday afternoon, winning by final scores of 30-0 and 9-1 at Alumni Field.

The Mariners finished with a combined 29 hits on the day, the majority coming in the opener. Steve Cochrane led the offensive charge with five hits and 10 RBI in the doubleheader. In the first game alone he swatted two home runs and knocked in a school record nine runs.

Mitchell (9-5 overall) will next host Albertus Magnus College on Wednesday, March 27 at 1:30 p.m. Husson (7-8 overall) returns to action at home against Saint Joseph's College (ME) on Thursday, March 28 at 4 p.m.

Game 1 – Mitchell 30, Husson 0

The Mariners put up crooked numbers in every inning but the seventh en route to their largest margin of victory of the season. Cochrane was one of four Mitchell players who homered in the contest.

After starting pitcher Jakari Pellegrini stranded a runner at third base in the top of the first, the Mariners began piling up runs with four in the home half. Cochrane hit a high fly ball to right that carried over the fence for a two-run homer to put Mitchell on the scoreboard. Two batters later, Dougie DelaCruz hit a two-run bomb to left to double the margin.

Mitchell sent 17 batters to the plate in the second inning and broke the game open with 11 runs. Steven Pagan had a two-run double in the rally that gave him the 100th hit of his career. Cochrane also crushed his second homer of the day, sending a three-run shot over the right-center fence.

Mitchell's final two long balls came in the eighth inning. John-John Jose led off with a solo homer to left—his second of the season—before Hunter Yaworski added a three-run blast to right for his first collegiate homer.

Eric Marriott, Cochrane and Justin Johnson each finished with three hits to pace the offense. Johnson scored six runs on the day while Marriott crossed the plate five times.

Five pitchers combined for Mitchell's first shutout of the season and allowed only three hits over 9.0 innings. Pellegrini struck out four in 4.0 innings of work before turning the ball over to Drew Daley, who picked up the win in 2.0 innings of relief. Jeff Nicolosi, Connor Dulin and Michael Pagacik closed out the contest with 1.0 inning of relief apiece.

Jesse Colford took the loss for Husson, surrendering seven runs on four hits in 1.0 inning of work.

Game 2 – Mitchell 9, Husson 1

Mitchell's pitching remained solid in the nightcap as starter Roland Thivierge worked out a couple of tight spots to improve to 4-0 on the season. He yielded only one run on three hits and struck out four over 5.0 innings.

The Mariners pushed across three runs in the first inning to once again grab the early lead. After the first three Mitchell batters all reached base, Pagan was hit by a pitch to force in the first run. DelaCruz followed with a sacrifice fly to right plate the second run, and Peter Abate brought in the third with a ground out to short. An RBI double by Marriott then bumped the margin to 4-0 in the second.

Thivierge retired the first six batters he faced before running into trouble in the third. Husson put a runner in scoring position with no outs, but Thivierge escaped unscathed by getting a strikeout, comebacker and fly ball to end the inning.

The Eagles threatened again in the fourth as Nick Guerette led off with a double to left. David LeBlanc then struck out on a ball in the dirt but reached base safely, setting up Husson with runners on the corners with no outs. After Thivierge struck out the next batter, Ethan Stoddard lined a shot to left that looked to be deep enough to score the runner from third. However, DelaCruz made the catch and fired home in time to cut Guerette down at the plate.

The Mariners doubled the lead with four runs in the fourth. Cochrane supplied an RBI single to get the ball rolling, and Pagan followed with an RBI double down the right-field line. DelaCruz later tacked on a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0.

The Eagles nicked Thivierge for a run in the fifth after loading the bases with only one out. Conor Maguire cashed in with a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Dustin Crawford with the visitor's only run of the day.

Justin Lukas didn't allow a hit in 2.0 innings of relief to sew up the game for the Mariners. He retired all six batters he faced and struck out three.

Husson starter Cam Graham was tagged with the loss (1-2), allowing eight runs (six earned) on six hits over 3.1 innings.