Baseball Erupts for 23 Runs in GNAC Tournament Rout of Rivier

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Sophomore Chase Donahue (Shirley, Mass.) went 3-3 with a pair of home runs and nine RBI, as the second-seeded Mitchell College baseball team erupted for 23 runs during a 23-2 victory over sixth-seeded Rivier University on Saturday afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Baseball Championship Tournament game at Alumni Field.

The Mariners have now scored 43 runs across two games to begin the GNAC Tournament, with the 23 runs being the most the team has scored in a single game this season. 

The nine runs driven in by Donahue tie a single-game record, while senior Chris Gibbs (New Britain, Conn.) earned his 26th career victory, becoming all-time winningest pitcher in the Division III era of the Mitchell baseball program.

Senior Michael Gajda (New Britain, Conn.) added a pair of hits, including his sixth homer of the season, driving in four and scoring three times. Juniors Kenneth Miller Jr. (New London, Conn.), Nicholas Bracale (East Haven, Conn.), and Adam Vartanian (Cumberland, R.I.) chipped in two hits apiece in the win, each registering a double.

The Mariners attacked early, as Ryan Dennis led off the game with a walk and advanced to third on a double by Bracale. The first run then came home on an error by the Rivier shortstop, before a double down the leftfield line by Miller Jr. made it a 2-0 ballgame. Michael Gajda then laced a two-run single up the middle, before Donahue tacked two more runs on with an RBI single to right field.

The offensive onslaught continued, as Ryan Dennis added an RBI double to make it 7-0, chasing Rivier starting pitcher Nate Bonacorsi from the game after having recorded just one out. Chris Volino came out of the bullpen for the Raiders and immediately surrendering a sacrifice fly, pushing the Mitchell lead to eight runs.

After the Raiders responded with one run in the bottom of the first, Mitchell padded their lead in the second on a two-run home run to left center off the bat of Donahue. The Mariners added five more runs in the third inning, four more in the fourth on a Chase Donahue grand slam, and four more to cap the scoring in the fifth, as the game concluded after seven innings due to the 10-run rule.

Gibbs, who improved to 6-3 this season, allowed just one run in three innings of work before the bullpen took over for the day.

Nate Bonacorsi recorded one out and was the losing pitcher, surrendering eight runs (four earned). Kyle Hsu finished 2-3 with a walk and one RBI for the Raiders in the loss.

The Mariners (24-16) will play for the Pod B Championship on Saturday at 11:00 am, facing the winner of Saturday afternoon's game between third-seeded Lasell University and #6 Rivier University.