GAME 1 BOX SCORE | GAME 2 BOX SCORE

When and Where: March 4, 2018 – Northborough, Mass. (New England Baseball Complex)
Game 1 Score: West Chester 5, Southern New Hampshire University 3
Game 2 Score: West Chester 11, Southern New Hampshire University 1
Records: West Chester 5-2, SNHU 7-2

Sophomore Tom Blandini (Bow, N.H.) collected three hits and senior Mitchell Powers (Portland, Maine) allowed just two runs over six innings in his outing, but the 11^th-ranked Southern New Hampshire University baseball team was swept by 15^th-ranked West Chester University on Sunday at the New England Baseball Complex. The Rams scored a run in each of the final three innings to steal a 5-3 victory in game one and then breezed to an 11-1 win in the second game. 

Blandini was 3-for-8 with an RBI in the two games, while sophomore Phoenix Hernandez (Brooklyn, N.Y.), redshirt-junior Kevin Alexy (Newton, Mass.; RBI) and graduate student Thomas Buonopane (Peabody, Mass.; two walks) were all 2-for-6. Redshirt-senior Ryan Sullivan (Hopkinton, Mass.) went 2-for-7 and scored a pair of runs. 

West Chester struck for two in the top of the first inning of game one when Shane Dressler hit a two-run triple off Powers to make it 2-0. Powers would settle in, striking out four over the next three frames to keep West Chester off the board. 

Southern New Hampshire would eventually tie it in the bottom of the fourth, as it put a pair in scoring position with two out when Hernandez hit a ball that the shortstop could not handle and it allowed both runners to score, evening it at 2-2. 

Three more punchouts over the following two innings from Powers again held down the Rams long enough for the Penmen offense to go to work. After Sullivan led off the sixth inning with a single, back-to-back outs made it look like West Chester would get out of the frame unscathed, but Alexy delivered a huge two-out RBI with a double that put SNHU up, 3-2. 

Powers gave way to the bullpen in the seventh, but West Chester capitalized, as Corey Webb doubled and scored on a single from Justin Horn to knot the game at 3-all. 

Horn then put West Chester in front with a two-out RBI single in the eighth that made it 4-3. The Rams would add an insurance run in the ninth on a run-scoring base hit to center by Jon Hansen. The Penmen would bring the winning run to the plate twice in the ninth, but could not score. 

Alexy (RBI), Sullivan (two runs) and Buonopane (walk) were all 2-for-4, while Blandini finished 2-for-5.

Powers allowed two runs on seven hits, while striking out nine and not walking a batter, over six innings. Sophomore Wesley Tobin (Portsmouth, N.H.) relinquished a run on two hits in a third of an inning, while redshirt-sophomore Brendan Welch (Easton, Mass.) gave up a run on a hit and a pair of walks in one inning. Sophomore Nick Artymowicz (Seaville, N.J.) was charged with a run on three hits in an inning-and-two-thirds, striking out four and walking two.

Game two was scoreless until the top of the third when a two-out RBI single from Hansen, followed by bases loaded walks to Bill Ford and Joey Coyle, made it 3-0.

Southern New Hampshire would get one back in the bottom half of the inning, as junior Joshua Zbierski (Stafford Springs, Conn.) led off with a single, went to second on a walk to senior Kyle Pangallo (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), moved to third on Buonopane's groundout and scored when Blandini grounded out to second.

West Chester doubled its scoring output with one swing in the fourth, however, as Jared Melone hit a three-run shot to make it 6-1.

The score stayed that way into the seventh when West Chester took advantage of three errors, a passed ball and a wild pitch to push across five unearned runs that extended the lead to 11-1.

Graduate student Shane McDonald (Blue Point, N.Y.) was tagged for five runs on five hits over three-and-a-third innings, fanning eight and walking five. Redshirt-freshman Zachary Merchant (Lunenburg, Mass.) was charged with three runs – one earned – on three hits, striking out five and issuing one walk over two-and-two-thirds innings. Freshman Jordan Allard (Hartford, Vt.) allowed three runs – none earned – on one hit, striking out two and a walking one, in an inning of work. Junior Hayden Manning (Portland, Conn.) struck out one in a perfect eighth, while junior Xavier Czepiel (Southampton, N.J.) struck out two, walked a pair and allowed a hit in a scoreless frame.

Zbierski (run), Hernandez, junior Kyle Ruth (Albany, N.Y.) and redshirt-sophomore Joshua Goldstein (Haverhill, Mass.) were all 1-for-2, while Blandini finished 1-for-3 with an RBI. Redshirt-freshman Justin Stromski (Manville, N.Y.) doubled in his only at bat for his first career hit.

Notes:
- The 10-run defeat in game two is Southern New Hampshire's largest regular-season loss since April 19, 2014 when it fell at Merrimack by the same 11-1 score.
- Sullivan had his hitting streak ended at eight games in the nightcap, while redshirt-junior John Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) and senior Caleb Potter (Mentor, Ohio) both went hitless in the twinbill and saw their streaks end at seven and five games, respectively. 

Up Next:
The Penmen return to action Friday, March 9 (6 p.m.) when they open a five-game Florida trip against Bloomfield College.

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