Baseball Salvages Split in NECC Opener
NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team opened New England Collegiate Conference play with a doubleheader split against New England College on Wednesday afternoon, bouncing back from a 5-3 loss in the opener to post a 16-3 victory in the nightcap.
In the day's first game, NEC rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh to steal a win. The Pilgrims tied the game on a wild pitch and took the lead on a two-run single by Michael Ciccotelli.
Mitchell, which hadn't played a game in 18 days, finally found its offensive rhythm in the second game. Dougie DelaCruz led the way by driving in a career-high seven runs, including a grand slam in the third inning that broke the game open.
Mitchell (8-5 overall, 1-1 NECC) will next play at Lesley University on Saturday, April 17 at noon. NEC (7-11 overall, 5-1 NECC) returns to action at home against Mitchell on Wednesday, April 21 at 1 p.m.
Game 1 – NEC 5, Mitchell 3
Runs were hard to come by in the opener as starting pitchers Tim Krol and Camren Varney went deep into the game. Mitchell grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning on sacrifice flies by Anthony Laureano and Anthony Stigler. However, NEC countered the next time up thanks to an RBI triple by Patrick Hagerty, who later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.
The Mariners went ahead in the fifth inning as Jakari Pellegrini doubled and scored on a single to left by DelaCruz. In the sixth, Mitchell got out of a tight jam as reliever Kenny Heon got a strikeout to strand a pair of runners in scoring position.
The Grims were two outs away from a loss when Logan Gadbois drew a walk and later scored the tying run on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Ciccotelli delivered a two-out single through the right side of the infield that plated the go-ahead runs.
Mitchell brought the tying run to the plate in the home half of the seventh, but reliever Shaun Cormier protected the lead and got a fly ball to end the game. He struck out one and recorded the final three outs to earn his first save of the season.
Krol picked up the win, improving to 1-1 on the year. He allowed three runs on eight hits and fanned seven over 6.0 innings.
Varney yielded two runs on four hits and struck out six in 5.2 innings of work.
Game 2 – Mitchell 16, NEC 3
In the second game, the score was tied 1-1 after the first as the teams traded sacrifice flies. Garrett Langis did the honors for the Grims while DelaCruz knocked in his first run of the day for the Mariners.
DelaCruz was just getting warmed up. In the third inning he launched a ball off the new scoreboard in left field, clearing the bases with his team-leading third homer of the season. Hunter Yaworski then supplied a two-run single as the Mariners put up seven runs in the frame and took an 8-1 lead.
Mitchell added three runs in the fourth behind another DelaCruz sac fly and a two-run double by Lelo Martinez. The Mariners tacked on three more in the fifth to go up 14-1, with Yaworski and Lucca Ardovini-Brooker each delivering RBI singles. DelaCruz capped the frame with his seventh RBI, this time via a ground out.
Pellegrini, who got the starting nod on the bump, was crisp despite having last taken the ball on March 27. He allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits over 5.2 innings and struck out five, evening his record at 3-3.
Mitchell got big contributions from the bottom of the order as Yaworski and Ardovini-Brooker finished with three hits apiece. Yaworski had three RBI and scored two runs while Ardovini-Brooker knocked in two and scored three times.