Baseball Stays Alive In NECC Tournament

Junior Paul Martinez (New London, Conn.) laced a deep single to right field with one out in the bottom of the ninth to score pinch runner Eric Pesino (Millbury, Mass.) with the winning run as the Mariners escaped with a 6-5 victory after the Hawks had staged a furious late-innning rally after trailing 5-0 after four innings.

The game winner came after Justin Szela (Woodstock, Conn.) reached on an infield error and Pesino advanced to second on a nifty sc bunt from Tommy Derosier making a winner of Cody Faddis (Muskogee, Okla.) who moved to 2-3 in relief of starter Jeremy Chapman (Waterford, Conn.).

Martinez went 4 for 5 knocking in two to lead the attack, while Andre Langlais (Ledyard, Conn.) had two hits with a RBI double in the second. Ethan Graynor (Leonia, N.J.) added a two-run single in the third for a 3-0 lead.

After a sac fly RBI from Derosier and a run-scoring single from Martinez built a 5-0 lead in the fourth, Chapman cruised into the seventh before Becker began their rally.

The Hawks would plate four in the seventh all coming with one out to chase Chapman including a two-run double from Austin Phillips (Thomson, Ga.) and a two-run single from Weston Meehan (Thomson).

In the eighth, Ryan Sczerbinski (Cranston, R.I.) reached on a two-out error and pinch runner Don Ballsieper (Bolton, Conn.) would score on a Keith Kandel (Fresno, Cal.) triple to tie it.

Mike Schoen (Yorktown, NY.) would take the loss (2-4). Starter Jheremy Brown went eight innings allowing five runs (two earned) on nine hits, striking out six and walking one.

In the nightcap, Meehan was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate for the Hawks while Phillips and Todd Tompkins (West Haven, Conn.) knocked in two runs each as the Hawks ousted the Mountaineers.

Errick Maddern (West Haven, Conn.) went 8 1/3 innings allowing four runs (three earned) on 13 hits striking out eight and walking one to get the win (4-4) while Jeff DiLorenzo (Coventry, R.I.) earned his third save allowing one hit in the ninth.

Kendel and Eric Lajoie (Oakham, Mass.) added two hits for the winners.

Eric Wells (Athens, Penn.) had three hits for the Mountaineers knocking in two, while Dave Gage (Gloversville, N.Y.), Pat Warrington (Flocroft, Penn.), and Corey Armstrong (Bennington, Vt.) all added three hits each.

Connor Murray (Litchfield, Conn.) went the distance in taking the loss (1-5).

After Becker pushed a run across in the first, SVC rallied with three in the top of the third keyed by a two-run double from Tompkins.

But Becker answered with three on six hits in the bottom of the frame including five straight singles to start the rally including a Wells two-run hit and a Max Ginter (Hamden, Conn.) RBI ground out.

Becker added insurance in the eight as Tony D’Addio (West Haven. Conn.) and Lajoi combined for a double steal with D’Addio swiping home.

Southern Vermont would cut it to 5-4 as Pawlak reached on an error and came home on a two-out single from Armstrong, but DiLorenzo induced a fly out to seal the win.