MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The No. 22 Southern New Hampshire University baseball team closed out the Division II Northeast Challenge with a 17-1 triumph over Chestnut Hill College at the Ripken Experience Sunday afternoon.  The Penmen improve to 5-0, while the Griffins now stand 1-4 on the season.

Southern New Hampshire jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, then tacked on four more runs in the second to build a 6-0 advantage.  After scoring once in the fourth and twice in the sixth, the Penmen recorded an eight-run eighth.

Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.) led off the game with a triple and was 3-4 with three runs scored and an RBI, while Andrew Pezzuto (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.) was 3-3 with two RBI and three stolen bases.  Andy Lalli (Lakeville, Mass.) knocked in three runs and went 2-3 at the plate, while Alejandro Diaz (Old Bridge, N.J.), Tyler Fortanascio (Oradell, N.J.), Bryan Toland (Wildwood, N.J.) and Anthony Aceto (North Providence, R.I.) had two hits apiece.  Toland and Aceto drove in two runs apiece.

Derrick Sylvester (Franklin, N.H.), after missing the 2012 season due to injury, got the start and allowed three hits and one unearned run in seven innings of work, striking out six without issuing a walk.  Joe McCarthy (Nashua, N.H.) worked a 1-2-3 eighth before Jake Woodward (Lebanon, N.H.) and John Pickowicz (Hill, N.H.) wrapped up the ninth.

Southern New Hampshire returns to action on Sunday, March 3, when it faces University of the Sciences in Lantana, Fla. to kick off an eight-game trip in the Sunshine State.