Baseball Holds Off Lesley to Secure Sweep

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team picked up a pair of New England Collegiate Conference victories over Lesley University on Tuesday afternoon, winning by final scores of 10-0 and 7-6 at Alumni Field.

Mitchell limited the Lynx to only three hits in the opener as Jakari Pellegrini threw 6.0 strong innings to improve to 5-1 on the year. Dougie DelaCruz went 3-for-3 with a double, homer and four RBI in the contest.

In the second game, the Mariners jumped out to a 7-0 lead before holding off Lesley down the stretch. Relievers Ryan Solimine and Bryce Bedard got Mitchell to the finish line, clinching the team's second one-run victory of the season.

The Mariners extended their winning streak to 13 games and improved to 27-6 overall (11-1 NECC). The streak is now tied for the longest in the school's Division III history.

Mitchell will next play at Wheaton College on Thursday, April 25 at 4 p.m. Lesley (7-22 overall, 5-7 NECC) returns to action at home against Lasell College on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

Game 1 – Mitchell 10, Lesley 0

The Mariners staked Pellegrini to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Everything started with two outs as Steve Cochrane and DelaCruz each singled to set the table. Steven Pagan then sprayed a double down the right-field line to bring in the game's first run, and Peter Abate followed with a two-run single to center.

Lesley put runners on the corners with no outs in the second, but Pellegrini escaped trouble by getting a pop out, strikeout and fly ball to end the threat. He also pitched around a one-out double by Vincent Taliercio in the third to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.

A double by DelaCruz plated a pair of runs in a three-run third, and an inning later the Mariners tacked on four more. Cochrane supplied a two-run double down the left-field line, and DelaCruz crushed a two-run homer to left—his team-leading sixth of the season—to make it 10-0.

Eric Marriott finished with two hits in the contest, including the 100th of his collegiate career.

Pellegrini allowed only two hits and struck out five while walking two. Lesley starter Brett Dabrowski gave up 10 runs on 13 hits and dropped to 2-4 on the season.

Game 2 – Mitchell 7, Lesley 6

Lesley loaded the bases in the first inning against Mitchell starter Drew Daley but failed to cash in. The Mariners then put a run up in the home half as a dropped fly ball allowed Cochrane to score all the way from first base.

Mitchell added to the margin in the third, sending 10 batters to the plate and pushing across six runs to go up 7-0. Cochrane, Abate and Anthony Diaz each recorded RBI singles in the rally while Pagan and Sam Majewski also plated runs.

The Lynx put a dent in the lead in the fourth, scoring all five of their runs with two outs. The heart of the order did the heavy lifting as Taliercio and Ryan Pumphret each contributed RBI singles. Javi Martinez followed with a ground-rule double to right to score another run, and Steven DePalma connected for a two-run single to make it a 7-5 game.

Mitchell put runners on second and third with no outs in the fifth, but Lesley reliever Daniel O'Donnell Jr. wiggled out of trouble without allowing a run. The Lynx then cut the deficit in half with a run in the sixth on a two-out single to center by Zach Rossi that scored Pumphret.

The Mariners came up empty again in the sixth after putting two runners on with no outs, but Bedard wouldn't need the extra insurance. He retired the side in order in the seventh to earn his first save of the season.

Solimine (7-1 overall) picked up the win with 1.1 innings of relief and surrendered one run on three hits. Daley tossed 3.0 scoreless innings and allowed only two hits.

Lesley starter Jonathan Truscott dropped to 2-5 overall and yielded six runs (five earned) on four hits over 2.1 innings of work.