GAME 1 BOX SCORE | GAME 2 BOX SCORE
RAPID REACTION WITH JUNIOR CALEB POTTER AND REDSHIRT-JUNIOR RYAN SULLIVAN

When and Where: May 6, 2017 – Manchester, N.H. (Penmen Field)
Game 1 Score: Southern New Hampshire University 5, Merrimack College 4
Game 2 Score: Southern New Hampshire University 17, Merrimack College 3
Records: SNHU 39-7 (25-2 NE10, 20-1 NE10 NE), Merrimack 23-20 (17-8 NE10, 15-6 NE10 NE)

Junior Caleb Potter (Mentor, Ohio) hit two home runs and racked up five RBI in game one, with redshirt-junior Ryan Sullivan (Hopkinton, Mass.) following suit in the second game to lead the fourth-ranked Southern New Hampshire University baseball team to a sweep of Merrimack College on Saturday in a regular-season ending doubleheader at Penmen Field. SNHU, which held its Senior Day, along with Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day, pulled out a 5-4 victory in game one and then exploded for a 17-3 win in the second game.

Graduate student Zach Goldstein (Merrick, N.Y.) went 4-for-7 in the two games with two walks, a home run, two RBI and five runs scored. Potter was 3-for-6 with two home runs, five RBI and three runs, while Sullivan was 3-for-7 with two home runs, five RBI and three runs scored.

Southern New Hampshire put runs on the board in a hurry in the bottom of the first inning of game one. Goldstein started it by lining a single up the middle before fellow grad student Dave Hoffman (Niskayuna, N.Y.) was hit by a pitch and senior Derek Bauer (Millis, Mass.) dropped a broken-bat single into shallow left to load the bases with just one out. Potter then followed with a towering fly to center that carried over the fence for a grand slam that made it 4-0 early.

Merrimack slashed its deficit in half in the top of the fourth against senior starter Alex Person (Foxboro, Mass.) as a two-out double off the base of the wall in left by Cam DiSarcina, followed by Matt Nicholson's home run to center on a 2-2 pitch, made it a 4-2 game.

The Warriors tied the score in the sixth as three straight singles to center from Tyler Lyne, Joey Porricelli and DiSarcina loaded the bases with no outs. A wild pitch brought in the first run before a walk to Nicholson re-loaded the bases. The Penmen went to the bullpen for grad student Stephen Fortuna (Metuchen, N.J.), who quickly recorded a strikeout before Ricky Smith's infield single to short tied the game, 4-4, with Fortuna getting out of the bases-loaded jam with another punch out.

Potter put the Penmen ahead in the bottom of the eighth as he ripped a one-out, 2-2 pitch to left for his second home run of the game – a solo shot – that gave SNHU a 5-4 lead.

Fortuna, who posted perfect frames in the seventh and eighth, did it again in the ninth to nail down the win.

Person was charged with four runs on five hits, striking out a pair and walking one, in five-and-a-third innings. Fortuna (3-0) allowed just one hit in three-and-two-thirds scoreless innings, striking out five and not walking a batter.

Potter went 2-for-4 with a career-high five RBI and two runs scored. Sullivan finished 1-for-3, while Goldstein (run), Bauer (run), senior Cam Oliveira (Tewksbury, Mass.) and junior Kyle Pangallo (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) were all 1-for-4.

Merrimack drew first blood against redshirt-junior starter Andrew Lalonde (Bedford, N.H.) in the top of the first of the second game as DiSarcina began a two-out rally with a single through the left side, went to second on a walk to Nicholson and scored on Aidan O'Leary's base knock to center.

Southern New Hampshire responded in a big way in the home half as a lined single to center from Goldstein to lead off the frame and a double to deep center by freshman Tom Blandini (Bow, N.H.) put a pair in scoring position with no one out. Following a strikeout, Bauer mashed a 2-1 pitch deep to right-center for a three-run bomb that leapfrogged the Penmen in front, 3-1.

After Lalonde squirmed out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, SNHU made it hurt worse as Sullivan and sophomore Joshua Zbierski (Stafford Springs, Conn.) each blasted a three-run homer in the frame to extend the lead to 9-1.

The home run parade continued in the third for the Penmen as sophomore Kyle Ruth (Albany, N.Y.) led off with a single to right before Goldstein hit a two-run rocket to left-center on the first pitch he saw to nudge the lead to 11-1. A Blandini single to right, followed by a fielder's choice grounder to short, a walk to Bauer and a wild pitch, put a pair in scoring position with two outs when Zbierski hit a grounder to short that was not handled cleanly and then thrown away, allowing both runners to come home and expand the advantage to 13-1.

SNHU did not let up in the fourth as freshman Jake Coro (Johnston, R.I.) drilled a pinch-hit single through the right side, moved to third when Goldstein dropped a double into left-center and scored on Blandini's ground out to second base. Sullivan followed by crushing a 1-2 offering deep to left-center for his second home run of the game, making it 16-1.

A bases-loaded walk to Coro in the bottom of the seventh tacked on another run that made it 17-1, before a two-run ninth for Merrimack capped the scoring. DiSarcina's RBI double to left-center brought in the first run before Ethan Sprague's run-scoring groundout to third trimmed the final deficit to 17-3.

Lalonde (5-1) allowed one run on seven hits, while striking out six and walking just one, over five innings. Freshman Alex Gomes (Peabody, Mass.) gave up a hit and a walk in a scoreless inning of work. Classmate Ryan Steffens (Commack, N.Y.) struck out two and walked a batter in a hitless frame, while junior Joe DeSarro (Frankfort, N.Y.) fanned a pair in a perfect inning. Freshman Nick Artymowicz (Seaville, N.J.) was charged with two runs – one earned – as the two batters he faced walked and reached on an error. Redshirt-freshman Brendan Welch (Easton, Mass.) struck out one and allowed a hit as two inherited runners scored in a scoreless inning of work.

Goldstein finished 3-for-3 with two walks, a pair of RBI and four runs scored, as he fell a triple shy of the cycle. Blandini went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Sullivan was 2-for-4 with five RBI and three runs. Bauer (walk, three RBI, two runs), Potter (run), Ruth (run), redshirt-sophomore John Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) and sophomore Robert Fulkerson (Anaheim, Calif.) were all 1-for-2. Zbierski went 1-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored.

Notes:
- SNHU has now won 35 of its last 39, including 28 of 31, 25 of 27, 18 of 19 and 14 straight.
- Southern New Hampshire, which had wrapped up the Northeast Division title and the top seed with Thursday's 6-2 win against Merrimack, kept the Warriors from earning the No. 2 seed and a home game in the first round of the Northeast-10 Championship as they will now travel to second-seeded Franklin Pierce University as the No. 3 seed.
- SNHU, which improves to 13-1 (.929) at home this season, is now 56-11 (.836) at Penmen Field since the start of the 2014 season. The Penmen have not been beaten at home in a nine-inning regulation game since April 30, 2016.
- Person retired the first 11 batters he faced in game one and then six straight between Nicholson's home run in the fourth and when he ran into trouble in the sixth.
- Combined with his no-decision in a 12-6 win at Assumption on April 29, this marks the first time Person, who came in 28-2 all-time, has gone back-to-back starts without recording a win.
- Fortuna retired the final 10 batters he faced in the game.
- In his last seven outings, which include five starts, Lalonde is 5-0 with a 1.62 ERA, having allowed nine runs – seven earned – on 27 hits, while punching out 46 and walking 15 over 39 innings. He is holding opponents to a .194 batting average during that span.
- The 16 hits in game two are tied for the second most this season by Southern New Hampshire.
- In game two, the Penmen sent 31 batters to the plate over the first four innings, including eight in the first, nine in the second, eight in the third and six in the fourth.
- SNHU, which homered five times in game two, including three of the three-run variety, hit a pair of three-run shots in the second inning, alone.
- The Penmen played 24 different members of the roster in game two.
- Potter's home runs in game one were his fifth and sixth of the season, as well as his first grand slam in a Penmen uniform. Bauer's long-ball was his sixth of the season, while Sullivan's were his NE10-leading ninth and 10^th, Zbierski's was his fourth of the year and Goldstein's was his third.
- Goldstein, Hoffman, Bauer, Person, Fortuna, Oliveira and redshirt-junior Matt Rabbito (Chelmsford, Mass.) were all honored in a Senior Day ceremony prior to game one.
- The Penmen wore purple wristbands and sleeves for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day, in addition to setting up a website to donate to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. To help them reach their goal, please visit snhupenmen.com/pancan.

Up Next:
The Penmen, seeded first in the Northeast Division, return to action Tuesday, May 9 (6 p.m.) when they open Northeast-10 Championship play with a first round matchup against Northeast No. 4 seed Bentley University at Penmen Field.

For the latest on Southern New Hampshire University athletics, follow the Penmen via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. Sign up to receive text message alerts and e-mail newsletters about your favorite Penmen teams here.