MANCHESTER N.H. – Senior Derrick Sylvester (Franklin, N.H.) fanned a career-high 15 batters and allowed just three hits in his complete-game effort, and No. 1 Northeast seed Southern New Hampshire University jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three innings as it downed No. 4 Northeast Bentley University 9-1 in the first round of the 2014 Northeast-10 Baseball Championship Wednesday afternoon at Penmen Field.  The Penmen, who have won four straight, will now host the four-team double elimination portion of the championship beginning Friday.  They improve to 36-12.  The Falcons likely see their season come to a close at 22-18.

SNHU will host the University of New Haven in Friday's opening round at 4:00, as the Chargers, the No. 2 seed in the Southwest Division, downed third-seeded Le Moyne College 1-0.  Friday's first game at noon will feature a pair of teams who pulled first round upsets.  No. 3 Northeast seed Stonehill College, an 11-4 winner over No. 2 Franklin Pierce University, will take on No. 4 Southwest seed Adelphi University, which knocked off top-seeded Southern Connecticut State University 10-4.

Sylvester, who earlier Wednesday was named Northeast-10 First Team All-Conference, struck out 15 while walking just two and allowed three hits on the afternoon.  After a first inning single by Will Brennan with two away, Sylvester did not allow another hit until Brennan's double with two out in the sixth.  Tom Nagy followed up with a single for the lone Bentley run on the day.

Offensively, Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and Alejandro Diaz (Old Bridge, N.J.) led Southern New Hampshire with three hits apiece, while Bryan Toland (Wildwood, N.J.) knocked in three runs, including a two-run triple that got the Penmen on the board in the second inning.  Riley Palmer (Goffstown, N.H.) also had a pair of hits.  On the basepaths, O'Brien was caught stealing for the first time all season in the second inning after going 46-46 this season.  Dating back to last season, he had stolen 55 straight bases, which will tie him for the second-longest streak in NCAA Division II history.

SNHU scored four times in the second inning, all with two outs, then added two more runs in the third to build a 6-0 lead.  The hosts tacked on two more in the fourth and one in the fifth.

In the second, Mike Mastroberti (Ramsey, N.J.) singled with one out, then moved to third with two away on a Tyler Fortanascio (Oradell, N.J.) single down the left field line.  Both runners would score on a triple to right by Toland that was misjudged by right fielder Nagy.  After Anthony Aceto (North Providence, R.I.) walked, Toland scored on a double steal.  O'Brien made it 4-0 when he beat out a ball to second base, and a heads-up Aceto never stopped rounding third as second baseman Burton Deady hesitated for a split second.

In the third, SNHU took advantage of a pair of errors.  Stanton reached on an infield error, which Palmer followed up with a ball to right.  Nagy misplayed what should have been a single, allowing Stanton to score and Palmer to move to third.  Palmer scored on a double to right-center by Diaz to make it 6-0.

O'Brien singled with one out in the fourth, moved to second on a walk by Manny Cruz (Wolcott, Conn.) and took third on a deep fly to center by Stanton.  He would score on a double steal as a steal attempt by Cruz drew a throw, allowing O'Brien to walk home.  Cruz later scored on a Palmer triple to the right field corner.

Toland drove in SNHU's final run as his sac fly to deep left in the fifth scored Diaz after he led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Fortanascio flyout.

Bentley starter Ryan O'Connor took the loss, allowing five hits and six runs (four earned) in 2.1 innings before being lifted.  Six Falcon hurlers combined to allow six hits and three runs the rest of the way.

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