Baseball Holds Off Clark for Fourth Straight Win

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team used a four-run fourth inning to push past Clark University by a 5-3 final on Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference game at Alumni Field.

The victory was the fourth in a row for the Mariners, who handed Clark just their third loss in 19 games this spring.

Senior Owen Robbins (East Lyme, Conn.) finished the day with a team-high two hits, including a double, while adding a pair of walks and a run scored. Freshman Michael Ficocelli (North Providence, R.I.) and Chas Terni Jr. (Montville, Conn.), along with seniors Cole Lalli (Coventry, Conn.), Michael Gajda (New Britain, Conn.), and Angel Galindez (Carolina, PR) collected one base hit and one RBI apiece in the win.

After the two teams traded three scoreless frames to begin the day, the Cougars went ahead when graduate student Ryan Caulfield ripped a two-run triple to right-center field in the top half of the fourth inning. The Mariners answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning, including an RBI single by Ficocelli, an RBI double by Terni Jr., an RBI triple by Lalli, and a run scoring infield single off the bat of Gajda.

The Cougars got one back and made it a one run game in the top of the sixth when sophomore Dom Mariani pushed home a run when he grounded into a double play, but Mitchell tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the seven on a run scoring single by Galindez.

Junior lefty Jadon Canelli (Northford, Conn.) got the start for the Mariners and worked two scoreless frames. After fellow junior Nicholas Strojny (Woonsocket, R.I.) allowed two runs in one inning out of the bullpen, freshman Joshua Scamman (Rochester, N.H.) came on in relief to earn the first win of his collegiate career with four and two third innings of one run ball. Senior Camren Varney (Manchester, N.H.) came on and tossed one and a third innings to pick up his second save of the season, walking one and striking out three.

Ryan Calufield went 3-5 with two RBI for the Cougars, while Mariani, Carter Doran, Tyler Jones, and Billy Sullivan added two hits apiece.

Freshman Brendan Bruun was charged with the loss after surrendering four runs in four innings.

The Mariners (12-6, 3-0 GNAC) return to conference play at home on Friday, March 29th, when they host New England College for a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 12:00 pm. The Cougars (16-3, 1-0 NEWMAC) are also scheduled to jump back into conference play when they host Coast Guard for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 30th.