Box Score MANCHESTER, N.H. – No. 11 Southern New Hampshire University jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and cruised to a 10-2 Northeast-10 baseball victory over Saint Anselm College Tuesday afternoon at Penmen Field. The Penmen have won five in a row and are now 22-7 and 10-3 in NE-10 play, while the Hawks now stand 9-19 and 3-8 in the league.
Al Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) led the Penmen with three hits on the afternoon, including a double, as he drove in a pair of runs. Manny Cruz (Wolcott, Conn.), Mike Mastroberti (Ramsey, N.J.), and Alejandro Diaz (Old Bridge, N.J.) had two hits apiece for the Penmen. Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.) reached base three times with a walk and two hit by pitches, and went 2-2 in stolen base attempts, making him 28-28 on the season, while scoring all three times. His steal of second was the 100th stolen base of his career.
Freshman Mike Robert (Nashua, N.H.) picked up the win on the hill for Southern New Hampshire, allowing one hit, a first-inning single, and fanning five without issuing a walk as he faced one over the minimum.
SNHU led 2-0 after one inning and 5-0 after two. In the top of the first (SNHU was batting as the visitor), O'Brien led off with a walk, moved to second on a groundout, stole third and came home on a wild pitch. Riley Palmer (Goffstown, N.H.) then belted his fourth home run of the season to make it 2-0.
In the second, Diaz led off with a single and came home on a double by Bryan Toland (Wildwood, N.J.). Toland scored on a single to right by Cruz, while a Stanton single plated O'Brien, who was hit by a pitch.
After scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth, the Penmen tacked on three runs in the sixth. O'Brien was hit by a pitch to lead off and after stealing second, scored with Cruz reached on a throwing error. After a Stanton single moved Cruz to third, Cruz scored on a wild pitch. Stanton scored on a Mastroberti double to make it 10-0.
SNHU's shutout bid was thwarted in the seventh when San Lagasse belted a two-run home run off Penmen reliever Zach Zona (Auburn, Mass.). Zona went an inning, while Lucas Olen (Bedford, N.H.) tossed the final two innings of relief.
Southpaw Zachary Brian took the loss for Saint Anselm, allowing eight hits and six runs in four innings of work.
Southern New Hampshire returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Saint Michael's College for a doubleheader starting at 4:30 pm. The first game will be a nine-inning NE-10 contest, with the second a seven-inning non-league affair.
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