Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 GAME 1 BOX SCORE | GAME 2 BOX SCORE
RAPID REACTION WITH REDSHIRT-JUNIOR JOHN STANTON
When and Where: April 7, 2018 – Hooksett, N.H. (Penmen Field)
Game 1 Score: Southern New Hampshire University 11, University of Bridgeport 1
Game 2 Score: Southern New Hampshire University 2, University of Bridgeport 1 (7 inn.)
Records: SNHU 16-10, Bridgeport 4-24
Redshirt-junior John Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) and sophomore Tom Blandini (Bow, N.H.) each homered and knocked in four runs to lead the Southern New Hampshire University baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of the University of Bridgeport on Saturday at Penmen Field. Penmen pitching was stellar in both contests, as SNHU rolled to an 11-1 win in game one and pulled out a 2-1 victory in the second game.
Stanton finished the twinbill 2-for-3 with three walks, a home run, four RBI and three runs scored, while Blandini went 3-for-8 with a walk, home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Senior Caleb Potter (Mentor, Ohio) was 3-for-6, with classmate Kyle Pangallo (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) going 2-for-4 with a pair of walks, an RBI and a run. Redshirt-sophomore Joshua Goldstein (Haverhill, Mass.) continued his hot hitting by going 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Bridgeport struck first in game one when Daren Grabowski sent a fly ball into the right field corner that Potter laid out for, but the ball hit off his glove and Grabowski went into third with a triple. Grabowski scored two batters later on Ben Torres' fielder's choice grounder when he stopped a third of the way down the baseline, drew a throw to third and then broke for him, taking advantage of a low throw to the plate to slide in safely with the game's first run.
After that play, graduate student Shane McDonald (Blue Point, N.Y.) would retire 13 straight Purple Knights to allow the Penmen bats to go to work. That work began in the bottom of the second when Stanton and freshman Sam Henrie (Middleboro, Mass.) drew walks before Potter was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Pangallo came through with a single into left that tied the game, before a sacrifice fly to right from Goldstein put the Penmen in front, 2-1.
Stanton made it 5-1 with one swing of the bat in the third, capitalizing on a double down the left field line from redshirt-junior Taylor Olmstead (Greenwich, Conn.) and a walk to Sullivan by smashing a three-run homer to left-center that tore through the wind to get up and over the fence.
The score stayed that way until the sixth when Stanton was hit by a pitch and freshman Dakota Mulcay (Goffstown, N.H.) belted a two-run shot to right just three pitches later that stretched the lead to 7-1.
The home run parade continued in the seventh with redshirt-senior Ryan Sullivan (Hopkinton, Mass.) sending the second pitch of the inning over the wall in center to nudge the Penmen advantage to 8-1.
A walk by Pangallo and a single from Goldstein allowed Blandini to put the cherry on top in the eighth when he clubbed a three-run shot down the right field line that blew it open at 11-1.
Stanton finished 1-for-1 with a pair of walks, three RBI and three runs scored, while Goldstein went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run. Pangallo was 1-for-2 with a walk, RBI and run scored. Mulcay (two RBI, run), Sullivan (walk, RBI, two runs) and Potter were all 1-for-3, with Blandini going 1-for-5 with three RBI and a run.
McDonald (4-2) allowed just one run – unearned – on three hits, while fanning 13 and walking one, over seven innings. Senior Ivon Clough (Dublin, N.H.) struck out one in perfect inning of work, while redshirt-freshman Stephen Lemieux (Oxford, Mass.) did the same in his first career appearance.
In game two, Bridgeport again made it onto the board first, scratching across a run when Vincent DeRubeis doubled off grad student Andrew Lalonde (Bedford, N.H.) to move Mark Hirschbeck, who led off the frame with a base hit, to third before Patrick Palmer delivered a perfect squeeze play to make it 1-0.
The Penmen answered in the home half, with Blandini leading off with a single to center, moving to second on a sac bunt from grad student Thomas Buonopane (Peabody, Mass.) and scoring on Stanton's two-out single through the left side on a full count.
Then in the sixth, sophomore Jake Coro (Johnstown, R.I.) reached on an error when the third baseman could not come up with his hard-hit ball. He scampered first-to-third on Pangallo's single the other way to right-center and came across the plate with the eventual game-winning run when Blandini pushed a single through the right side with two outs.
Blandini (walk, RBI, run) and Potter were both 2-for-3, while Stanton (walk, RBI) and Pangallo (walk) each went 1-for-2.
Lalonde gave up one run on four hits, while striking out four and walking just one, in five-plus innings. Redshirt-sophomore Brendan Welch (Easton, Mass.) earned his second straight win to improve to 2-1 on the season by striking out a pair in a hitless inning. Redshirt-junior Jake Walkinshaw (Seymour, Conn.) nailed down his first save of the year, punching out one in a perfect seventh.
Notes:
- The Penmen win for the sixth time in seven games, including their fourth straight.
- Southern New Hampshire is now 3-0 at home this season and improves to 62-13 (.827) at Penmen Field since the start of the 2014 season.
- The four home runs for SNHU in game one matched its season high, which was set in a 12-5 win against Mercy College on Feb. 24 down in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
- The long-balls for Sullivan, Stanton and Mulcay were their fourth of the season, while Blandini's home run was the first of his career.
- Sullivan's homer was also the 16th of his career, moving him into a fourth-place tie in the program record book with Riley Palmer (2012-14) and Ryan Gendron (2015-16).
- McDonald's 13 strikeouts set a new career high and match senior Mitchell Powers (Portland, Maine) for the most by a Penmen this season.
- Lalonde has now given up just seven earned runs over 37-and-a-third innings this season, submitting a 1.69 ERA and striking out 10.37 per nine innings, as he has punched out 43 and walked 12 in his six starts. Batters are hitting just .215 against him.
- Walkinshaw's save was the 14th of his career and his first since May 15, 2016, when he struck out the final batter of the game in a 5-4 win against Saint Rose to deliver the Penmen their second Northeast-10 title.
Up Next:
The Penmen return to action Sunday, April 8 (12/3 p.m.) when they play host to American International College at Penmen Field.
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