Baseball Takes One of Two vs. Becker
NEW LONDON, Conn. -- The Mitchell College baseball team split a New England Collegiate Conference doubleheader with Becker College on Friday afternoon, winning the first game 21-4 before dropping the second 12-8.
Hunter Yaworski and Anthony Laureano each clubbed a pair of homers in the doubleheader to lead the Mitchell offense. Roland Thivierge earned the victory in the opener, striking out five over 6.0 innings while yielding two runs (one earned) on six hits.
Coby Hussey went 6-for-7 with four doubles and four RBI to pace the Hawks. Russell Dunlap picked up the win in relief in the nightcap, improving to 3-2 on the season.
Mitchell (13-6 overall, 6-2 NECC) and Becker (6-10 overall, 6-4 NECC) will wrap up the weekend series with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 24 at noon in Leicester, Mass.
Game 1 -- Mitchell 21, Becker 4
Back-to-back homers by Laureano and Yaworski opened the scoring for the Mariners in the second inning. Jakari Pellegrini later added an RBI single through the right side, and Dougie DelaCruz made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly to right.
Mitchell added three runs in the third inning, highlighted by an RBI single by Laureano and a sacrifice fly by Owen Robbins. After the Hawks got a run back in the fourth, the Mariners made it 11-1 with a four-run fifth that included a two-run double by Matt Falk and a sacrifice fly by Jeremy Sagun.
Mitchell sent 16 batters to the plate in the sixth and pushed across 10 more runs to seal the victory. Jared Whitby contributed a pair of RBI singles in the frame while John-John Jose supplied a two-run double and Jeremy Santos added a two-run triple.
Making his first appearance in nearly a month, Thivierge (4-0 overall) worked out of trouble in the first inning and quickly found his rhythm. The run he allowed in the fourth inning was unearned, and Becker scored another off him in the sixth on a wild pitch.
Game 2 -- Becker 12, Mitchell 8
Becker chased Mitchell starter Eddie Kaftan in the second inning, scoring six runs on the strength of six hits and an error. The bulk of the damage came after the error extended the inning, allowing the Hawks to add four more runs.
Yaworski's solo homer in the second put Mitchell on the scoreboard, but the Hawks extended the margin to 11-1 in the third inning. Owens supplied a two-run single in the fourth, but Hussey doubled in a run in the fifth to give the visitors a 12-3 cushion.
The Mariners made it interesting in the seventh, scoring four runs to close the gap to 12-8. Steve Cochrane had an RBI single to start things off, and Laureano followed with a three-run homer to get Mitchell within striking distance. However, Dunlap got a pop up to end the game with the tying run waiting in the on-deck circle.
Hussey went 4-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI to lead Becker.