Baseball Slugs Past Becker in NECC Opener

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Top-seeded Mitchell College slugged to a 20-0 victory over fourth-seeded Becker College in the opening game of the 2021 New England Collegiate Conference Baseball Championship on Friday morning.

Dougie DelaCruz went 5-for-6 with two doubles and five RBI while Anthony Laureano went 4-for-5 with two homers and four RBI. Jakari Pellegrini tossed 6.0 scoreless innings and struck out 10 in the victory.

The Mariners will play the winner of Friday's second game—either second-seeded New England College or third-seeded Elms College—on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Mitchell went up 1-0 in the first inning on an RBI single by Hunter Yaworski that scored DelaCruz. The margin stayed the same until the fourth, when the Mariners pushed across seven runs to break the game open. DelaCruz supplied a two-run double in the frame, and Laureano capped the rally with a three-run homer.

RBI singles by DelaCruz and Yaworski bumped the lead to 10-0 in the fifth. The Mariners then added three more runs in the sixth, with Lelo Martinez providing a two-run single and DelaCruz tacking on an RBI double.

Laureano's second homer of the game came in the seventh, a solo shot that was his fourth of the season. Jeremy Sagun added a sacrifice fly and DelaCruz recorded his second RBI double to make it 18-0. The Mariners scored the final two runs in the eighth as Steve Cochrane and Michael Santiago each plated runs.

Pellegrini (6-3 overall) retired the first 12 batters he faced and struck out the side in the third. The only trouble he hit came in the fifth, when Becker's Noah Rivera doubled to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Pellegrini walked the next batter to load the bases, but then got a strikeout and fly ball to end the threat.

Ethan Perry finished with three hits to lead Becker at the plate. Tevon Johnson made the start for the Hawks and surrendered 11 runs (six earned) on eight hits and fanned seven while walking six.