Baseball Takes Down ENC in Extras

TAUNTON, Mass. -- The Mitchell College baseball team pulled out a 4-2 victory in extra innings over Eastern Nazarene College on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference action at Taunton High School.

Down to their final out, the Mariners tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the seventh with the help of an ENC fielding error. Mitchell later scored a pair of runs in the 10th inning to go up 4-2 and held on as reliever Kenny Heon closed out his first win of the season.

With no lights at the field, Saturday's scheduled second game between the two squads was canceled. Mitchell, which improved to 24-10 overall and 7-4 in NECC play, has secured the second seed for the upcoming NECC Championship on May 6-8.

Mitchell fell behind 1-0 in the second but quickly tied things up an inning later thanks to an RBI single by Bo Yaworski. The score remained knotted at 1-1 until the sixth, when the Lions used a two-out walk and back-to-back singles from Anderson Jiminez and Juan Jacob Lopez to plate the go-ahead run.

In the seventh, Dougie DelaCruz drew a two-out walk to give the Mariners a chance. After pinch runner Elijah Morton stole second to move into scoring position, Hunter Yaworski sent a deep fly ball to the warning track in right. The ENC fielder dropped the ball, allowing the tying run to score and giving Mitchell new life. In the bottom of the frame, Heon secured the last two outs with the potential winning run standing on second base.

The Mariners stranded runners in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings, but Heon kept the Lions off the bases to keep the game going. Mitchell finally broke through in the 10th, as Juan Abreu singled through the right side to drive in the go-ahead run. Four batters later, B. Yaworski drew a bases-loaded walk to pad the lead to 4-2.

Heon didn't need the extra run, as he sat down the side in order in the 10th to nail down the victory. He retired the last 11 batters he faced and allowed only one hit in 4.1 scoreless innings of work, striking out a career-high eight batters. 

Mitchell starter Chris Gibbs lasted 5.1 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and fanned four. ENC's Jon Tessier turned in a solid start and allowed two runs (one earned) on eight hits over 7.0 innings. 

Mitchell will next host a non-conference match-up with Middlebury College on Sunday, May 1 at 12:30 p.m.