The Newbury College baseball team outscored New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) foe Southern Vermont College, 31-11, over the weekend, to complete the season sweep. Senior first baseman Alex Chetelat (Farmington, Conn.) pushed his hitting-streak to 12 games going 7-for-13 (.538 BA) with a double, a homerun and six RBIs.
In the first game of the double-header, the Nighthawks jumped on Mountaineer starter Joel DeFedele in the top of the first. Sophomore left fielder Michael Dwyer (Hamden, Conn.) turned an infield single into a double with his 13th steal of the season. After advancing to third on passed ball, he came in to score the game's first run on groundball to second off the bat of right fielder Matthew Clawson (Tolland, Conn.).
Southern Vermont responded and jumped on Newbury game one starter, junior Chris Ninteau (Lisbon, Conn.) for four runs in the home half of the first. But Ninteau eventually settled down and kept the Mountaineers off the score board for the next five innings.
During that time frame, the Nighthawks offense capitalized on a tremendous outing from the Newbury junior. Dwyer led off the top of the third, roping a double into left-center then came around to score a batter later when Clawson lined another double into left. After Chetelat drove in Clawson with his first of five hits on the afternoon, first year third baseman Steven Broy (Gorham, Maine) tied up the score lacing an RBI single that brought home Chetelat with the game's tying run.
It remained that way until Newbury broke up the stalemate two innings later. With senior designated hitter Michael Dean (Wethersfield, Conn.) on first and one out, Broy ignited a rally ripping a base-hit and sending Dean to second. After both runners moved up a bag on an errant pitch from DeFedele, Dean came into score on a passed ball to give the Nighthawks their first lead of the game. Two batters later second baseman Cameron D'Agostino (Salisburg, Mass.) gave Newbury an insurance run with a base-hit single to drive in Broy.
The Mountaineers mounted a valiant comeback attempt in their last at-bats, cutting the deficit in half to one-run. But Clawson shut the door to earn his conference leading third save of the season while Ninteau became the conference leader in wins, tossing six innings allowing just three earned runs and striking out five to earn his fourth of the year.
The offense exploded in the second game of the twin-bill with every starter registering a hit en route to the 15-5 rout of the Mountaineers.
Southern Vermont jumped on the scoreboard first win a run in the home half of the first but that was the last time they would lead in the ballgame. The Nighthawks finally got to Mountaineer game two starter, junior Max Ginter (Hamden, Conn.) in the top of the third for two runs to take a 2-1 lead but they were not done yet.
Although Southern Vermont knotted up the contest in the bottom of the frame, the Nighthawks continued to execute at the dish and hit Ginter hard. Two innings later they knocked the Connecticut native out of the game, batting around in the top of the fifth to put up a crooked number six and extend the lead to 9-2.
After the Mountaineers scored three times in the bottom of the fifth, the Nighthawks put the game out of reach, plating six unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh innings to give Chetelat his third victory of the year. In addition to pitching five innings allowing two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts, Chetelat helped his own cause at the plate, going four-for-five with a double and two RBIs.
Head Coach Kraig Kupiec handed the ball to first year starter Cameron D'Agostino (Salisbury, Mass.) in Sunday afternoon's series finale. The North Shore native kept the Mountaineers off the scoreboard through the first five innings while the Nighthawk offense continued to flourish en route to the 10-1 victory.
The Nighthawks jumped out in front early, putting up six runs in the top of the third sparked by the bottom portion of the line-up. Senior designated hitter Joey Herer (Needham, Mass.) reached on a one-out base-hit before advancing to second on a single to right, off the bat of second baseman Daniel Kovner (Hamden, Conn.) to bring the order back around to the top. Dwyer was able to beat out an infield ingle to second as Herer came in to score first run of the game. Three batters later with three runs already in, Chetelat launched a high-towering three-run blast over centerfield fence for his second homerun of the year, to give the Nighthawks the 6-0 lead.
Newbury continued to keep their foot on the throats of Southern Vermont pushing across another four runs over the course of the next two innings. But that was plenty for D'Agostino. D'Agostino gave the Nighthawks six quality innings allowing just one run while scattering five hits and striking out four in the process.
Fellow first year Daniel Lumb (Stoneham, Mass.) was the first of three relievers out of the bullpen for the Nighthawks and pitched a solid seventh inning with a strike-out. Senior right-hander Michael Gulla (Westbury, N.Y.) and sophomore southpaw Lucas Shatford (Newbury, N.H.) closed out the game pitching the eighth and ninth innings respectively.
The three game sweep over Southern Vermont propels Newbury to fourth in the conference with a 5-4 record and 13-10 overall while Southern Vermont falls to 1-5 in the NECC and 4-17 overall. The Nighthawks will take a break from conference action Tuesday afternoon against Little East school, UMass-Dartmouth. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m. in Dartmouth, Mass.
Weekend Notes:
Five Nighthawks find themselves in the top five of seven NECC categories…Alex Chetelat leads the NECC with 23 RBIs while tied for second with two homeruns and fourth in average .413 in addition to being tied for second in wins on the mound. Against conference opponents, Chetelat leads in RBIs with 14 and slugging percentage .909 while is second with a .515 average…Michael Dwyer finds himself fifth with a .385 average while leads the conference with 13 thefts on the season…On the pitching side of things, while Chris Ninteau is first in wins with four, Cameron D'Agostino is fifth amongst the leaders in ERA, posting a 3.13 ERA…Matthew Clawson rounds out the leaders, leading the NECC in saves with three on the season.