Baseball Moves On To NECC Title Round

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Top-seeded Mitchell College secured a spot in the title round of the 2021 New England Collegiate Conference Baseball Championship with an 8-3 victory over second-seeded New England College on Saturday afternoon.

The Mariners (23-6 overall) scored five unanswered runs to advance through the winner's bracket. Hunter Yaworski went 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI to lead the Mitchell offense, and Anthony Diaz added a pair of hits that included an RBI single in the sixth that snapped a 3-3 tie. Starting pitcher Roland Thivierge went the distance on the bump, striking out eight while walking two.

Mitchell will face either NEC or third-seeded Elms College on Sunday, May 9. The first game of the title round is slated to begin at noon. If necessary, a final winner-take-all game would start at 3 p.m.

The Pilgrims hit up Thivierge for a pair of runs in the first inning. Devin Parson led off with a double that was nearly snagged by the Mitchell outfield, and he later scored on a single by Connor Morin. Two batters later, Tyler Gendron followed with a double into the left-center gap to put NEC up 2-0.

The Mariners responded right away, picking up a pair of runs off NECC starter Shaun Cormier in the bottom of the frame. Yaworski cut the deficit in half with his first RBI double of the day, and a fielding error allowed the tying run to score on a ground ball by Lelo Martinez.

Dougie DelaCruz led off the fourth inning with a double down the right field line, and Yaworski knocked him in with a single through the right side to give Mitchell its first lead. Morin then tied the game at 3-3 with a solo homer in the sixth, his second four-bagger of the year.

The Mariners took the lead for good with a run in the home half of the sixth. Martinez got things started by drawing a two-out walk and moved into scoring position on a single by Anthony Laureano. Diaz then delivered a single through the left side to plate the go-ahead run.

A two-run double by Yaworski gave the Mariners some breathing room in the seventh. In the eighth, the Pilgrims put two on with no outs before Thivierge settled down and got a pair of punch outs and a fly ball to escape trouble.

Mitchell tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth before sending Thivierge back out in the ninth, and the senior right-hander got three quick outs to improve to 7-0 on the season. He allowed three runs on eight hits and needed 123 pitches to record the second 9.0-inning complete game of his career.

Cormier went 8.0 innings and surrendered eight runs (five earned) on 10 hits and struck out three in the loss.