Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 GAME ONE BOX SCORE | GAME TWO BOX SCORE
When and Where: March 17, 2018 – Northborough, Mass. (New England Baseball Complex)
Game 1 Score: Saint Thomas Aquinas 2, Southern New Hampshire University 0
Game 2 Score: Southern New Hampshire University 6, Saint Thomas Aquinas 1 (7 inn.)
Records: SNHU 10-6, STAC 11-5
Redshirt-senior Ryan Sullivan (Hopkinton, Mass.), redshirt-junior John Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) and sophomore Jake Coro (Johnston, R.I.) all homered in support of graduate student Shane McDonald (Blue Point, N.Y.), as the Southern New Hampshire University baseball team salvaged a doubleheader split with 21st-ranked Saint Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday at the New England Baseball Complex. The Penmen were blanked in the first game, 2-0, before answering back with a 6-1, seven-inning victory in game two.
Stanton went 4-for-8 with two RBI and a run scored in the doubleheader, while Sullivan was 2-for-4 with a pair of walks, RBI and two runs scored. Coro finished 2-for-6 with a pair of RBI and scored twice.
The Spartans jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second game, as Anthony Shkrelja led off the top of the second inning with a solo shot off McDonald.
The Penmen responded with a pair in the home half, as Sullivan matched Shkrelja with a lead-off home run to tie it, before junior Joshua Zbierski (Stafford Springs, Conn.) singled home Coro, who had doubled and moved to second on a base hit from freshman Dakota Mulcay (Goffstown, N.H.).
The string of lead-off bombs continued in the third with Stanton going yard to give SNHU a two-run cushion. Stanton then made it 4-1 in the fourth with a two-out RBI single that scored freshman Idelson Taveras (Lawrence, Mass.), who pinch ran following a single from grad student Taylor Olmstead (Greenwich, Conn.) and swiped second.
After Sullivan drew a walk to begin the fifth, Coro drove one over the fence two batters later to extend the Southern New Hampshire lead to 6-1.
McDonald (3-1) allowed just one run on five hits over seven innings, while striking out 10 and walking four in the complete-game effort.
Stanton went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI and a run scored, with Sullivan going 2-for-2 with a walk, RBI and two runs scored. Cora was 2-for-3 with two RBI and scored twice. Zbierski (RBI) and Olmstead were each 1-for-3.
Graduate student Andrew Lalonde (Bedford, N.H.) and Frankie Moscatiello matched zeroes through the first seven innings of game one until Lalonde ran into trouble in the eighth. Following a leadoff double to Angelo Baez, Lalonde attempted to pick him off second, but the errant throw allowed Baez to move to third before scoring on a sacrifice fly to center from Cris Ruiz.
STAC doubled its lead in the ninth when Anthony Maisano led off with a single, swiped second, moved to third when Baez reached on an error and scored on a squeeze play that ended up as a bunt single for Ruiz.
Stanton led off the ninth with a base hit, but the Penmen could not advance a runner into scoring position, as the Spartans secured the win.
Lalonde gave up one run on five hits, while striking out 11 and walking two in seven-and-a-third innings. Sophomore Wesley Tobin (Portsmouth, N.H.) allowed one run – unearned – on three hits, walking a pair and striking out two in an inning of work. Junior Hayden Manning (Portland, Conn.) struck out one in a perfect two-thirds of an inning.
Sophomore Tom Blandini (Bow, N.H.) was 1-for-3 with a walk, while Stanton had the only other Penmen hit to finish 1-for-4.
Notes:
- This game two victory snapped the first four-game losing skid for the Penmen since May 2-14, 2015.
- The home run for Sullivan was his third of the season, while it was the second of the year for Stanton. Coro's long-ball was the first of his career.
- In his last two starts, McDonald is 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA, allowing just one run on 10 hits over 15 innings, fanning 17 and walking four. Opponents are hitting just .200 off McDonald during that span.
Up Next:
The Penmen return to action Sunday, March 18 (2 p.m.) when they take wrap up the series with St. Thomas Aquinas College at the New England Baseball Complex.
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