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Southern New Hampshire University

Southern New Hampshire University Penmen
MICHAEL_LAROCCA_on_the_field
Jim Stankiewicz
8
Winner Southern N.H. SNHU 7-1
4
St. Thomas Aquinas STAC 1-3
Winner
Southern N.H. SNHU
7-1
8
Final
4
St. Thomas Aquinas STAC
1-3
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Southern N.H. SNHU 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 8 11 2
St. Thomas Aquinas STAC 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 9 1

W: Anibal, Trevor (1-0) L: M. Reyes (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

LaRocca Leads Late Rally in No. 6/9 Baseball's 8-4 Win Over St. Thomas Aquinas

LaRocca homers, knocks in five from the seventh inning on

When and Where: February 26, 2023 – Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Polo Grounds)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 8, St. Thomas Aquinas College 4
Records: SNHU 7-1, STAC 1-3

Junior Mike LaRocca (Vero Beach, Fla.) drove in five runs – all after his team trailed, 4-2, in the seventh – as the No. 6/9 Southern New Hampshire University baseball team rallied for an 8-4 victory against St. Thomas Aquinas College on Sunday morning at the Polo Grounds in Myrtle Beach.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS
  • LaRocca – 2-5, 1 R, HR, 5 RBI
  • Junior Nick Schwartz (Massapequa, N.Y.) – 3-3, RBI, 2 BB
  • Junior Danniel Rivera (New Britain, Conn.) – 3-5, 3 R, RBI
  • Junior Trevor Anibal (Bedford, N.H.; 1-0) – 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
KEY MOMENTS
  • Southern New Hampshire drew first blood in the top of the first when Rivera led off the game with a base hit to right, stole second and scored on a two-out double to left by Schwartz.
  • SNHU doubled its lead in the second when it began a two-out rally with freshman Steven Kienzle (Holbrook, N.Y.) and sophomore Harry Vargas Segura (Bronx, N.Y.) drawing back-to-back walks. Rivera followed with a single, but a throwing error on the shortstop allowed Kienzle to score, making it 2-0.
  • St. Thomas Aquinas leapfrogged into the lead with a three-run second, sandwiching two RBI singles around a run-scoring balk – all with two out in the inning.
  • The Spartans added an unearned insurance run in the fifth, when Andrew Jemison singled and went to second on a throwing error, stole third and scored on a groundout to short that made it 4-2.
  • LaRocca tied it in the seventh, stroking a two-out, two-run single to right to make it 4-4.
  • SNHU went ahead with four in the ninth, as Rivera put the Penmen up for good with an RBI single to center before LaRocca did the major damage with a three-run blast to right.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Sophomore Jorge Burgos (Santo Domingo, D.R.) was 1-for-4 and scored a run.
  • Junior Cristian Mercedes (Providence, R.I.) finished 1-for-5 with a run scored.
  • Junior Dylan O'Sullivan (Manchester, N.H.) went 1-for-1.
  • Freshman Austin Trumpour (Jensen Beach, Fla.) started and allowed four runs – none earned – on six hits, while striking out eight and walking one over five innings.
NOTES
  • Southern New Hampshire, ranked sixth in the Collegiate Baseball Pre-Season NCAA Division II Poll and ninth in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) NCAA Division II Top 25, is 7-1 to begin the season for the first time since starting 8-0 in 2021.
  • SNHU leads the all-time series with STAC, 14-7, and has won eight of the last nine, including seven-in-a-row.
UP NEXT
  • The Penmen are back in action Friday, March 3 (12 p.m.) for the first of two doubleheaders against East Stroudsburg University.

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