Hartford, Conn. – Junior RHP Peter Burrows (Floral Park, N.Y.) and first-year RHP John Meuchner (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) combined to allow one run and seven hits in 15 innings pitched, and senior captain CF Michael Rueger (Teaneck, N.J.) finished 6-for-10 with five runs and three RBI at the plate, leading the Trinity College Bantams to an 8/10-11/0 doubleheader sweep against the visiting Colby College Mules in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division baseball action this afternoon. Trinity improves to 14-8 overall and 5-1 in the NESCAC East and extends its overall winning streak to four games and its winning streak against the Mules to 22 games, having comeback from a 9-4 deficit with a nine-run fifth inning to take Friday's series opener. Colby drops to 7-7 overall and 0-3 in the division while pushing its losing streak to six games. Trinity has beaten Colby three times each season since 2007, last losing to the Mules, 10-8, in the middle game of a three-game set in Maine in 2006.
Burrows tossed a seven-inning complete game in today's opener, allowing six hits and fanning seven with one walk. Colby first-year hurler Soren Hanson (Billerica, Mass.) matched Burrows through a scoreless four innings, but the Bantams scored five times in the bottom of the fifth. Senior Bryan Ginsberg (Westwood, Mass.) started things off with a leadoff, pinch-hit single, and classmate Alex Almeida (Bridgeport, Conn.) delivered an RBI single moments later for the game's first run. Almeida later scored on a stolen base and a throwing error, senior Joe Papa (Stoneham, Mass.) doubled in a run, senior Evan Sternberg (Glen Ridge, N.J.) added a sacrifice fly, and freshman C Scott Cullinane (East Greenwich, R.I.) finished off the scoring with a two-out, run-scoring single.
Colby scored its run in the top of the sixth inning when junior Nathan Ellis (Milton, Mass.) singled home sophomore Luke Duncklee (Augusta, Maine), who had doubled with one out. Burrows reached back with runners on second and third to strike out consecutive batters and hold the Mules to the single run. Trinity added insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Rueger and a double-play ball with the bases loaded that scored Almeida. Hanson went five innings and allowed seven hits with five K's and four walks, while Ellis paced the Mule offense with three hits in as many at-bats. Almeida was 2-for-3 and Rueger was 2-for-4, while both scored twice in game one.
Meuchner yielded just one hit and walked one with three strikeouts over eight innings in the nightcap. Trinity jumped on Colby senior starter Brady Hesslein (Newton, Mass.) early with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning on a two-run jack by Papa. Papa added an RBI single in the third inning, and a five-run fifth for Trinity blew the game open. Meuchner struck out Duncklee with runners on first and third in the third inning, and got the final two outs with two runners on base in the fourth inning on an infield pop-up and a ground ball. Papa was 3-for-4 with four RBI and Rueger was 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBI, while senior captain SS Stephen Rogers (Watertown, Mass.) and senior OF Marc Crowley (Andover, Mass.) both homered for Trinity. Hesslein allowed three runs in six innings without a walk and fanned three.