When and Where: May 13, 2021 – Hooksett, N.H. (Penmen Field)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 9, Assumption University 5
Records: SNHU 20-5, AU 12-11

Redshirt-freshman Michael LaRocca (Vero Beach, Fla.) and freshman Cam Caraher (Plymouth, Mass.) each drove in a pair of runs to lead the 20th-ranked top-seeded Southern New Hampshire University baseball team to a 9-5 win against fourth-seeded Assumption University on Thursday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Championship divisional semifinal contest at Penmen Field.

LINKS: BOX SCORE

STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• LaRocca – 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs
• Caraher – 1-2, double, walk, 2 RBI
• Redshirt-junior Dakota Mulcay (Goffstown, N.H.) – 2-4, double, walk, RBI, 2 runs
• Redshirt-freshman Danniel Rivera (New Britain, Conn.) – 2-4, walk, stolen base
• Redshirt-junior Alex Gomes (Peabody, Mass.; 5-0) – 8.0 innings, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 7 hits, 7 strikeouts, 3 walks

KEY MOMENTS

• Assumption jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Connor Wironen led off the game with a double down the right field line and scored two batters later on a groundout.
• Southern New Hampshire answered in a big way in the home half, however, scoring five times with two outs to take a four-run lead. RBI singles from redshirt-junior Sam Henrie (Middleboro, Mass.) and LaRocca put SNHU on top, before an error on what looked to be an inning-ending groundout off the bat of redshirt-junior Idelson Taveras (Lawrence, Mass.) allowed a run to score and extended the inning. Caraher made it hurt with a two-run double to center that capped the scoring.
• Mulcay's two-out RBI double in the second extended the Penmen lead to 6-1.
• After the Greyhounds got one back in the fourth on a solo home run by Derek Adamson, RBI base knocks from LaRocca and Taveras, followed by a bases-loaded walk to redshirt-freshman Christian Mercedes (Providence, R.I.), made up a three-run fifth that put the Penmen in control at 9-2.
• Assumption scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, and tacked on another run in the ninth while bringing the tying run to the plate, but redshirt-sophomore Ricky Alexy (Needham, Mass.) wriggled out of the bases-loaded jam to end it.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Henrie (RBI, 2 runs) and Taveras (RBI, run) were both 1-for-4.
• Mercedes (walk, RBI, run, steal) and grad student Marcus Chavez (Queens, N.Y.; walk, run, steal) finished 0-for-4.
• Freshman Trevor Anibal (Bedford, N.H.) was charged with a run on a hit and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
• Alexy worked the final third, walking a pair.

NOTES

• Southern New Hampshire, ranked 20th in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II Poll, improves to 13-7 (.650) in its eighth NE10 Championship appearance, including 1-0 against Assumption.
• SNHU, which split the regular-season series with Assumption, 2-2, last weekend, leads the all-time series with the Greyhounds, 38-23-2, and has won 25 of the last 29 meetings between the two clubs.
• The Penmen move to 10-3 at home this season and are now 105-27 (.795) at Penmen Field since the start of the 2014 campaign.
• LaRocca returned to the lineup after missing the previous 11 games with an injury.

UP NEXT

• The Penmen, the top seed in the Northeast Division, will play host to the Northeast's No. 2 seed, Franklin Pierce University, in the best-of-three NE10 Championship divisional final. The teams will play a noon doubleheader at Penmen Field on Sunday (May 16), with an if-necessary game slated for Monday (May 17) at noon. The winner moves on to the best-of-three NE10 Championship final against the Southwest Division winner on May 21-22.

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