Mitchell Baseball Takes Two to Complete Series Sweep at Becker

Recap, photo is courtesy of Mitchell College

LEICESTER, Mass. - Becker College was swept by Mitchell College in New England Collegiate Conference baseball action on Thursday evening by scores of 4-3 and 8-4.

The Mariners needed extra innings to pick up the win in the opener, as an RBI single by Francis Prettitore in the top of the eighth provided the winning run. In the nightcap, Tristan Hurley went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI to fuel the offense while starter Axel De Jesus picked up the win on the hill.

The sweep lifted Mitchell to 22-7 overall (12-3 NECC) and gave the Mariners a 1.5 game lead in the
conference standings heading into the final weekend. The Hawks dropped to 14-19 overall (8-7 NECC).

Mitchell will next play a doubleheader at Lesley University on Saturday, April 23 at 11 a.m.

Game 1 - Mitchell 4, Becker 3 (8 innings)

Mitchell starter Clayton Shaw and Becker starter Daniel Diaz were in control through five innings. The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when both teams put three runs on the board.

Hurley got the top of the inning started with double into the right-center gap. After a Jack Finnegan single put runners on the corners, Tyler Pina drove in Hurley with a double to left-center. Prettitore followed with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Chandler Whitney capped off the three-run inning for the Mariners.

In the bottom of the frame, Christopher Testa got Becker going with a leadoff single. T.J. Sempkowski followed with a home run over the left field fence to cut the Mariners lead to 3-2. The hit was Sempkowski's 100th of his career. Randall Minogue kept the line moving when he legged out a double to center field. After a fly out bumped Minogue over to third, Niko Bedell tied the game with a single up the middle.

After a scoreless seventh inning, Finnegan made his way on base in the top of the eighth with a leadoff single through the left side of the infield. He then advanced into scoring position with a theft of second base. Prettitore plated the go-ahead run with an RBI single up the middle.

Al Jordan Johnson got the final three outs in the bottom of the eighth for his second collegiate save. Domenick Giaramida earned the victory after getting the Mainers out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh.

Diaz suffered the loss after allowing four runs in 8.0 innings of work.

Game 2 - Mitchell 8, Becker 4

The Mariners jumped on the board with four runs in the top of the second inning. After Pina made his way to third with a single, a stolen base and a fly out, Whitney brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right. The Mariners then loaded the bases with a pair hit batters and a walk. Hurley cleared the bags with triple down the right field line to make the score 4-0.

Kyle Hartenstein extended the Mitchell lead to 5-0 when he led off the top of the fifth with a solo blast to right. The homer was the first of his collegiate career.

Becker finally got on the board in bottom of the fifth when Josiah Shepherd found the pine trees in left for a two-run home run.

Mitchell plated three runs in the top of the sixth on a bases-clearing muffed pop fly in the outfield to make the score 8-2.

Minogue smacked his fourth home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth, while Testa drove in Trevor Read with the final Becker run in the bottom of the seventh to make the final 8-4.

De Jesus improved his record to 5-2 on the year after allowing four runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings of work.

Nick Hawrylciw suffered the loss for Becker. Michael Iacovelli kept the Hawks in the game, allowing just one earned run in 4.0 innings of relief.