![Baseball Sweeps ENC](/sports/bsb/2021-22/act_bb_martinezLelo22-01.jpg)
Baseball Sweeps ENC
NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team swept a New England Collegiate Conference doubleheader from Eastern Nazarene College on Saturday afternoon, winning by final scores of 11-2 and 12-5.
Lelo Martinez led the Mariners at the plate, going 4-for-8 with six RBI in the twin bill. Starting pitcher Camren Varney went the distance in the opener and struck out a career-high 12 batters while improving to 5-1. In the nightcap, reliever Kevin Vining picked up his first win of the season by fanning five over 4.1 innings of work.
Steven Pesce was one of five Lions who finished with a pair of hits on the day. He also drove in a pair of runs in the second game.
Mitchell (17-6 overall, 3-1 NECC) will next host WPI on Sunday, April 3 at noon.
Game 1 – Mitchell 11, ENC 2
Mitchell staked Varney to a 4-0 lead after just one inning. The Mariners loaded the bases with one out and scored all three runners on a triple to right field by Martinez. Owen Robbins also tacked on an RBI single in the frame as the Mariners sent nine batters to the plate.
The Lions put up a run in the second on a ground ball by Hunter Leroux-Porter that plated Frank Landeiro from third base. The Mariners made up for it by adding two runs in the home half as Martinez picked up his fourth RBI and John-John Jose supplied an RBI single.
Mitchell expanded the lead to 8-1 in the third as Bo Yaworski and Dougie DelaCruz each knocked in runs. The Lions picked up their second run in the fifth on an RBI double by Shane McNamara, but the Mariners matched it in the bottom of the frame when Justin Adorno scored on a passed ball.
A two-run double by Jose yielded Mitchell's final two runs in the sixth. Varney then closed out the game with a pair of strikeouts and a fly ball in the seventh, capping another strong outing for the junior right-hander. He allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and walked only two batters over 7.0 innings.
ENC starter Spencer Boynton suffered his first loss of the season, dropping to 4-1 overall. He gave up eight runs on seven hits and walked six while striking out two.
Game 2 – Mitchell 12, ENC 5
Mitchell jumped out to another early lead in the nightcap, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning off ENC starter Kelvin Cortez. His defense didn't help the cause, committing three errors behind him as the Mariners piled up the runs. Martinez delivered an RBI single in the rally while Robbins knocked in two with a single down the left-field line.
Eastern Nazarene fired back with four runs in the second inning to cut into the deficit. Juan Jacobo Lopez and Tyler Bean each supplied RBI singles while Pesce chipped in a two-run single. Vining, who replaced Mitchell starter Chris Gibbs, recorded the final out of the inning with the Mariners clinging to a 5-4 advantage.
Jose led off the third inning with his first home run of the season. Facing a full count, he crushed a ball over the fence in left field to expand Mitchell's lead to 6-4.
The Mariners added a pair of runs in the fourth as Hunter Yaworski and Martinez came through with back-to-back RBI singles. In the fifth, B. Yaworski knocked in a run with a single up the middle, and two batters later H. Yaworski swatted a two-run double to make it 11-4.
Matt Falk provided Mitchell's final run of the day with a two-out, solo homer in the sixth. The long ball was his team-leading fifth of the season, and it gave the Mariners a 12-5 lead heading into the final frame.
Cortez lasted 4.1 innings and yielded 10 runs (six earned) on eight hits and walked five.