Baseball Splits Senior Day Doubleheader with ENC

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team closed out their regular season by splitting a New England Collegiate Conference doubleheader on Friday afternoon, narrowly falling to Eastern Nazarene College 3-2 in the opener before romping the Lions 11-5 in the nightcap.

The potent Mariner bats were contained by ENC starter Francis Ferguson in game one, as the sophomore tossed a seven inning complete game, allowing just six hits and one earned run while striking out 10. After lying mostly dormant across the first seven innings of play, the Mitchell bats came back to life in the second game, plating 10 runs across the first three innings.

The Mariners (28-8 overall, 11-1 NECC) will host the upcoming NECC championship, which is slated to begin Friday, May 5, at Mitchell College Alumni Field.

Game 1 – ENC 3, Mitchell 2

The Lions jumped out to an early lead in the opener, pouncing on Mitchell starter Ryan Solimini (Danbury, Conn.) in the top of the first when Shane McNamara laced an RBI double to left field. The Mariners answered, capitalizing in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead on an error by the Lions and a passed ball.

The top of the second was the last inning that saw any runs in the opener, as ENC scored twice to take a 3-2 edge, the first on an RBI single by John Prentice and the second on a two-run double off the bat of Elvis Rojas.

Solimine was charged with three runs, two earned, across two and one third innings of work. Senior Kenny Heon (Montville, Conn.) worked four and two third scoreless innings in relief, surrendering just three hits and one walk while recording three strikeouts.

Senior catcher Matt Falk (Enfield, Conn.) went 2-3 at the plate for the Mariners and Dougie DelaCruz (Uncasville, Conn.) added a double in the loss.

Game 2 – Mitchell 11, ENC 5

After a scoreless first inning in the second game of the twin bill, the Mariners scored three runs in the second and added seven more in the third to take a commanding 10-0 advantage. The first three runs Mitchell scored came via bases loaded walks handed out by ENC starter Morgan Weast, who walked six batters in total and hit another three Mariners.

Matthew Blackwell (Ansonia, Conn.), Thai-ler Sestokas (Danbury, Conn.), Angel Galindez (Carolina, P.R.), and Bo Yaworski (Brooklyn, Conn.) each collected RBI singles in the game breaking bottom of the third, while DelaCruz added a sacrifice fly and Owen Robbins (East Lyme, Conn.) scored on a passed ball.

The Lions got the Mitchell starter Eddie Kaftan in the top of the fourth, pushing five runs across, highlighted by a three run home run to left field by the shortstop Frank Landeiro. Kaftan then settled in and tossed two and a third scoreless frames to close out his day on the mound, while DelaCruz added an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth to cap the scoring for the home team.

Kaftan, who improved his record to 7-1 on the season, allowed five runs on just four hits in six and one third innings of work. Seniors Kevin Vining (Wallingford, Conn.) and Derek Dascoulias each then came out of the bullpen to record an out, as the Mariners wrapped both their regular season and conference play.

The Lions finish with a 6-6 record in New England Collegiate Conference play.

Prior to the game the Mariners honored their nine seniors in a special ceremony. The group - which included Dougie DelaCruz, Matt Falk, Lelo Martinez, Kenny Heon, Ryan Solimine, Camren Varney, Tyler Daly, Kevin Vining, and Derek Dascoulias – has won 90 games over the past four years.