NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Merrimack College and Southern New Hampshire University split a baseball doubleheader Sunday afternoon.  The Warriors took a 3-2 win in the first game of the afternoon, a Northeast-10 contest, while the Penmen were 6-1 winners in game two, a non-conference contest.  Merrimack, which qualified for the NE-10 Tournament with the win in game one, is now 19-16 and 14-12 in the NE-10, while the Penmen see their season come to a close 18-25-1 and 10-15-1 in the league.

In the nightcap, SNHU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.) doubled to lead off the game then scored when the next batter, Tim Rines (Merrimack, N.H.) singled up the middle.  The Penmen added a run in the third when Scott Rogers (Orr's Island, Maine) scored on a groundout by Rines.  Rogers had led off the inning with a single and stole second.

The Penmen added three runs in the fifth, all coming with two out.  A Matt Boulter (Wrentham, Mass.) single scored O'Brien, who had led off the inning with a bunt single.  Jeff Giannino (Beverly, Mass.) then sent a triple to left-center that scored both Boulter and Eric Pelletier (Beverly, Mass.).  In the seventh, Boulter reached on a two-out triple and scored on a double by Giannino.

Merrimack scored its lone run in the eighth when a Pat Charette single plated Paul Arce.

Nick Leva (Cambridge, Mass.) led the Penmen with three hits in the nightcap as SNHU outhit Merrimack 13-2.  O'Brien, Boulter and Giannino added two hits apiece.

Taylor Eames (Epsom, N.H.) went seven innings for Southern New Hampshire and struck out nine while allowing just one hit to earn the victory.

In the opener, Merrimack scored in the second and third innings to take a 2-0 lead.  In the second, a Ray Walker single plated Tim Curran.  In the third, Mark O'Flynn was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame and scored on a single by Brendan Pyburn.

SNHU would get a run back in the fourth, as Rines led off with a single and after a wild pitch, scored on a single by Thomas Quicker (West Islip, N.Y.).  Merrimack made it 3-1 in the sixth when an Ed Medeiros single up the middle brought in Curran.  The Penmen scored their other run in the eighth when Kevin Spatkowski (Bristol, Conn.) reached on an error to lead off the inning and scored on a passed ball.

Curran was 3-4 with two runs scored for Merrimack in the opener, while Rines led the Penmen with a pair of hits.  Mike Laracy went 7.1 innings to earn the win for the Warriors, surrendering just four hits.  Ryan O'Rourke pitched the final inning to earn the save.  Bryant Gauthier (Lynn, Mass.) went 7.2 innings for Southern New Hampshire, scattering eight hits and recording three strikeouts.