Box Score MANCHESTER N.H. – Anthony Aceto (North Providence, R.I.) went 3-3 and hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning as No. 1 Northeast Division seed Southern New Hampshire University outlasted No. 3 Northeast seed Stonehill College in the winners' bracket final of the Northeast-10 Baseball Championship Saturday afternoon at Penmen Field. The Penmen, who have won six straight, are now 38-12 and advance to Sunday's final round in the driver's seat, needing only one win in two games to secure the NE-10 Championship. The Skyhawks now stand 30-19 on the season.
SNHU will face Adelphi University, the No. 4 seed in the Southwest Division, on Sunday at 11:00 am. The two teams have not met in the championship, but split a doubleheader on Long Island in late March. The Panthers advanced with a 7-2 win in Saturday's late game.
Aceto finished a triple shy of the cycle, while Manny Cruz (Wolcott, Conn.) also had three hits and a pair of RBI.
SNHU clung to a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Bryan Toland (Wildwood, N.J.) reached via a hit by pitch with one out. The next batter, Aceto, who is batting .500 in the NE-10 Championship, belted his first home run of the season down the left field line to give the Penmen a 6-3 advantage.
Stonehill got back in it with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth. Billy Karalis and Chris Hoyt led off the inning with back-to-back doubles down the right field line off Penmen closer Benjamin Criscuolo (Branford, Conn.), with Hoyt moving to third on a throwing error. Hoyt scored to make it 6-5 when Brian Campbell was erased 5-3 on a slow roller that turned into a bang-bang play at first. Christian Baglini would single, and get to second on a wild pitch representing the tying run, but Criscuolo got a flyout and a line out to end the threat.
Stonehill took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Karalis led off the game with a double and scored on a one-out double by Campbell. SNHU scored in the bottom half of the inning after three straight singles, with Cruz scoring on a throwing error on a hard-hit ball to short by Mike Mastroberti (Ramsey, N.J.).
Southern New Hampshire built a 4-1 lead with two runs in the second and another in the third. In the second, Tyler Fortanascio (Oradell, N.J.) led off with a single, and Aceto doubled with one away to put two runners in scoring position. After an out, Cruz doubled to center to make it 3-1. In the third, Alejandro Diaz (Old Bridge, N.J.) belted his first career home run, a solo shot to left, to push the lead to 4-1.
Stonehill loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth with three singles before Dan Fratus made it a 4-2 game by working a bases-loaded walk. The Skyhawks would pull within 4-3 as Baglini scored on a wild pitch. After Anthony Pagano walked to again load the bases, reliever Sam Fuller (Barre, Vt.) got Steve Lee to ground out to second.
Alex Person (Foxboro, Mass.) earned the win in 2.2 innings of relief, allowing five hits and two runs while striking out one. SNHU starter Mike Robert (Nashua, N.H.) went two innings and allowed three hits and one run while fanning one. Fuller struck out five in his two innings of relief, while Criscuolo allowed three hits and two runs in 2.1 innings to nail down his 14th save of the season.
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