HAVERHILL, Mass. – Starter Derrick Sylvester (Franklin, N.H.) and reliever Tim Viehoff (Derry, N.H.) combined to strike out 22 Saint Anselm College batters as No. 12 Southern New Hampshire University downed the Hawks 8-2 in Northeast-10 baseball at Trinity Stadium Thursday evening.  The Penmen upped their record to 19-7 and 7-3 in the NE-10, while the Hawks are now 9-14 and 3-3 in the league.

The 22 batters struck out by Penmen pitching are the most struck out in a nine-inning game in NCAA Division II history, and the second-most in any game in DII annals.  Stonehill College struck out 26 SNHU batters in a 2007 game, but that game was an 18-inning affair.  The previous Division II nine inning record of 21 occurred four times, the most recent in 2002 as Georgia College struck out 21 Piedmont College batters.

Sylvester started and went the first five innings, striking out 11 and allowing four hits and two runs while walking three to improve to 5-1.  Viehoff fanned 11 of the 13 batters he faced, with one batter reaching via error and the other batter grounding out to lead off the eighth as he struck out the side three times, twice in order.  He picked up the save.

Al Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) and Anthony Aceto (North Providence, R.I.) each had two hits to lead the offense.

SNHU scored four times in the top of the third without the benefit of a hit, taking advantage of two errors and five walks.  The Penmen had the bases loaded with two outs following two errors and a walk when Saint Anselm issued four straight free passes to make it 4-0.  Southern New Hampshire tacked on two runs in the fourth as a Riley Palmer (Goffstown, N.H.) single scored Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.), while a Mike Mastroberti (Ramsey, N.J.) groundout plated Manny Cruz (Wolcott, Conn.).

Saint Anselm took advantage of a pair of Penmen errors in the bottom of the fourth to make it 6-2, but SNHU tacked on two more runs in the fifth, taking advantage of two more Hawk miscues in the field.  Bryan Toland (Wildwood, N.J.) led off by reaching on an error and scored when Cruz reached on a throwing error.  Stanton knocked in the second run of the frame with his single to right.

Starter Tom Hudon took the loss for Saint Anselm, allowing four runs in his 2.2 innings of work.  He was one of six pitchers the Hawks used on the evening.

Southern New Hampshire is slated to return to action Sunday when it hosts American International College for a noon Northeast-10 doubleheader.

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Most Strikeouts in a Game, NCAA Division II
(source, 2014 NCAA Baseball Record Book)

26 – Stonehill vs. So. New Hampshire (18 innings) – April 19, 2007
22 – So. New Hampshire vs. Saint Anselm – April 3, 2014
22 – Central Missouri vs. Sonoma State (19 innings) – May 26, 2008
22 – Columbus State vs. S.C.-Upstate (14 innings) – April 24, 2004
22 – Kentucky Wesleyan vs. Oakland City (22 innings) – April 20, 1964
21 – Georgia College vs. Piedmont – May 3, 2002
21 – Saint Rose vs. NJIT – April 1, 1999
21 – North Dakota vs. Minnesota-Mankato (10 innings) – April 26, 1996
21 – Truman vs. Missouri S&T – April 2, 1976
21 – Jacksonville State vs. Sewanee - 1975