Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MANCHESTER, N.H. – Riley Palmer's (Goffstown, N.H.) walkoff single in the bottom of the 13th inning lifted No. 12 Southern New Hampshire University to a 5-4 win over Bentley University in the back end of a Northeast-10 baseball doubleheader Saturday at Penmen Field. The Penmen, with Saturday's split, now stand 26-13 and 9-6 in the NE-10's Northeast Division, while the Falcons, who blanked the hosts 4-0 in the opener, are now 20-16 and 8-4 in divisional play.
In the bottom of the 13th, No. 9 hitter Zach Goldstein (Merrick, N.Y.) singled through the right side to lead off the inning, then moved into scoring position on a sac bunt by Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.). Bentley elected to take no chances with Andrew Pezzuto (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.), who is batting .406 on the season, issuing him an intentional walk. After pinch hitter Jamie Wollerman (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.) struck out, Palmer singled to bring home Goldstein.
Trailing 4-2 in the middle of the eighth after Bentley posted its fourth one-run inning of the game, Southern New Hampshire tied the game with a pair of runs. Goldstein led off with a single to left and advanced to third on a pair of errors by Falcon left fielder Dante Padovani. O'Brien made it 4-3 when his groundout to the right side plated Goldstein. Pezzuto and Al Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) hit back-to-back singles to give the Penmen runners at the corners with one out. Stanton was lifted for pinch runner Kyle McGinnity (Northborough, Mass.), and McGinnity would get caught in a rundown between first and second on a steal attempt. Pezzuto broke for home and was able to steal the plate to tie the game, meanwhile, McGinnity advanced to third after the throw home got away.
Southern New Hampshire staked itself to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as O'Brien and Pezzuto opened with back-to-back singles and each stole second to give SNHU two in scoring position with no out. Palmer knocked the pair in with a one-out single through the left side. Bentley claimed the lead by scoring single runs in the third, fifth, sixth and eighth innings.
Bentley nearly broke the game open in the sixth with one run and the bases loaded with one out. Alex Powers (Brewster, Mass.), normally SNHU's closer, came in and shut the door by getting Sean Keady to strike out and Evan Mondor to fly out to end the threat. Powers worked 5.2 innings of relief, allowing three hits and one run and striking out eight.
Junior Mendez (Patchogue, N.Y.), making his first relief appearance of the season, earned the win for the Penmen, working the 12th and 13th and striking out four in his two hitless innings. Penmen starter Tyler Gauthier (Lynn, Mass.) struck out nine in five-plus innings, but was tagged with four hits, three runs and four walks. Southern New Hampshire pitching struck out 22 Falcon batters on the evening. Connor Root took the loss for Bentley, working 5.1 innings of relief and allowing two runs and four hits while fanning seven.
In the opener, Bentley scored all four runs of the game in the top of the second inning, with the big blow coming on a two-run double to right center by Bryan Rocha. Rocha had two hits for Bentley in the opener, while Keady was 3-5.
Jeff Croteau went the distance to earn the shutout in the opener, allowing five hits and no walks while notching five strikeouts. Jon Massad (Shrewsbury, Mass.) took the loss by allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) in seven innings while fanning five. Joe McCarthy (Nashua, N.H.) allowed one hit over the final two innings.
Stanton and Tyler Fortanascio (Oradell, N.J.) had two hits apiece in the opener.
Southern New Hampshire is idle until Wednesday when it hosts Franklin Pierce University in a key Northeast-10 divisional battle at Penmen Field. First pitch is slated for 7:00 pm.
