Baseball Rallies Past Coast Guard

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team battled the rain and rallied from a four run deficit to defeat the Coast Guard Academy 8-7 in non-conference action on Thursday afternoon at Alumni Field.

Adam Vartanian (Cumberland, R.I.), Angel Galindez (Carolina, PR), Michael Ficocelli (North Providence, R.I.), and Jack Hayes (New Milford, Conn.) each had two hits for the Mariners, while Michael Gajda (New Britain, Conn.) went 1-3 with a double, two runs scored, and one RBI.

With Coast Guard leading 7-3 in the top of the seventh inning, the Mariners stormed back by plating one run on an RBI single by Jack Hayes, before Michael Gajda laced an RBI double to right field. Sophomore Thai-ler Sestokas (Danbury, Conn.) followed that up with a sacrifice fly to score Hayes, while a run scored on a wild pitch tied the score, and an error gave Mitchell the lead.

Freshman Jacob Ditscher (Danbury, Conn.) got the start for Mitchell and tossed three innings of three run ball, striking out four. Fellow freshman Mason Rodriguez (Danbury, Conn.) earned his first win of the season after allowing just one run across two and two third innings.

Nathan Stafford went 2-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBI for the Bears, while John Tacchini doubled and drove in two, and Wyatt Duthu homered. Aidan Anderson was the losing pitcher after surrendering five runs in three and one third innings.

The Mariners (22-8, 9-0 GNAC) will carry a five game winning streak into a pivotal Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader at Johnson & Wales University on Saturday, April 20th. Coast Guard (16-8, 6-2 NEWMAC) return to action with a NEWMAC doubleheader at MIT on Saturday, April 20th.