Baseball Slugs to Two Wins vs. SVC
NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team took both games of a New England Collegiate Conference doubleheader against Southern Vermont College on Saturday afternoon, winning by final scores of 15-2 and 13-6 at Alumni Field.
Kenneth Olszewski went 6-for-9 with three RBI and five runs scored on the day as the Mariners (24-3 overall, 13-1 NECC) extended their winning streak to a season-high nine games. Starting pitchers Al Jordan Johnson and Tyler Shamas each picked up wins on the mound and improved to 6-0 on the season.
Cody LaBadia led Southern Vermont (11-15 overall, 4-8 NECC) with three hits in the doubleheader and scored two runs. Chris Nicastro and Eric Fields also finished with a pair of hits each.
The two teams will wrap up the three-game series with a nine-inning game at Southern Vermont on Sunday, April 26 at noon.
Game 1 – Mitchell 15, Southern Vermont 2
Mitchell came out swinging in the first and put up three runs to jump out to an early lead. Olszewski delivered a RBI single in the frame and later scored from third on a passed ball.
The Mariners sent nine batters to the plate in the second and added four more runs. With the bases loaded and one out, Kyle Hartenstein beat out a potential inning-ending double play to bring in the first run. Olszewski followed with a RBI single to right but got hung up in a rundown after a wide turn at first. He made it back to the first-base bag safely, and Hartenstein—who moved from first to third on the hit—scored in the chaos. Rafael Garcia capped the frame with a RBI single to make it a 7-0 game.
Southern Vermont got two runs back in the third after back-to-back singles by Fields and Niko D'Agnese set the table. Nicastro plated the first run with an infield single and Richard Rios knocked in the second with a sacrifice fly to right.
Mitchell made up the runs in the home half of the third. Arroyo led off the inning with a walk, moved to third on a double by Tyler Pina and scored on a wild pitch. The Mariners then loaded the bases with no outs and pushed across runs on a single by Hartenstein and a sacrifice fly by Evan Peck to bump the lead to 10-2.
Southern Vermont threatened again in the fifth, but a solid play by Arroyo in the outfield kept the Mountaineers off the board. With two on and two outs, RJ Pingitore hit a blast to deep right field that Arroyo tracked down with a diving grab.
Mitchell tacked on three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth. Olszewski picked up his third RBI of the game with a ground-rule double to left, and Garcia later followed with a sacrifice fly. Pina and Peter McTernan also plated runs with a single and a double, respectively, as the lead ballooned to 15-2.
Troy Stango and Johnny Cabrera each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to close out the game for the Mariners. Johnson gave up two runs on four hits and struck out five in 5.0 innings.
SVC starter Dylan Angelo lasted 3.0 innings and yielded 10 runs (eight earned) on nine hits. Chris Bradt tossed 3.0 innings of relief and allowed five runs on five hits and struck out two.
Game 2 – Mitchell 13, Southern Vermont 6
Southern Vermont put runners on the corners with two outs in the first inning, but a nifty play by McTernan on a ball up the middle ended the inning and kept the Mountaineers scoreless. Mitchell then put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame courtesy of a dropped fly ball and a wild pitch.
The Mountaineers took advantage of three Mitchell errors to grab a 3-2 lead by the third inning. In the second, LaBadia and Fields each reached base due to miscues and later scored, the latter on a ground out by D'Agnese that tied the game at 2-2. SVC then took its first lead of the day thanks to a sacrifice fly by Pingitore in the third that plated Nicastro.
The lead didn't last long as Mitchell answered back with four runs in the home half of the third. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs and tied the game on a ground ball by Arroyo. McTernan and Pina then followed with a single and double, respectively, to each knock in runs, and in between a run crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
Mitchell broke the game open in the fourth against SVC relief pitching. The first five batters all reached base and scored before a single out was recorded. Olszewski led off with a single and scored on a triple to right-center by Peck. Garcia singled to bring in another run and moved to third on a double by Ryan Goodwin. Arroyo then provided the big blow with a three-run homer down the right field line to make it 11-3, his team-leading third long ball of the season.
LaBadia led off the SVC sixth with a double off the base of the wall in right-center, and after moving to third on a groundout he scored on an infield single by Anthony Mercuri. A pair of errors led to Mercuri being on third base when the Mountaineers successfully executed a double steal to cut the deficit to 11-5.
Mitchell added two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI double from McTernan and a groundout by Drew Doyle. The Mountaineers scratched across a run in the seventh on a groundout by Roland Hernandez for the 13-6 final.
Shamas went the distance and allowed six runs (two earned) on six hits and struck out two. Avery Ford took the loss for the Mountaineers and surrendered six runs (five earned) on four hits in 3.0 innings of work.