BENNINGTON, Vt. – The Mitchell College baseball team won the first two games of its weekend series at Southern Vermont College by scores of 11-2 and 15-4 on Saturday afternoon at Bill Epstein Field.
Mitchell improved to 14-3 in league play (23-8 overall) and pulled into a tie for first place in the New England Collegiate Conference standings. The Mariners are currently tied with Daniel Webster College with one game remaining in the conference slate. A Mitchell win coupled with a DWC loss on the final day of the regular season would give the Mariners the top seed and the right to host the 2013 NECC Championship.
Southern Vermont fell to 5-12 in the NECC, 11-23 overall. Mitchell and SVC will wrap up the weekend series with a single nine-inning game on Sunday, April, 28 at noon.
Game 1 -- Mitchell 11, SVC 2
The Mountaineers came out with energy in the opener and played staunch defense. Southern Vermont starting left-hander Zach Milton retired the Mitchell side in order in the opening two frames before his teammates provided a bit of run support.
In the bottom of the second, Dan Bergami tagged one deep to right-center, allowing the speedy Sal Sciara to cruise all the way from first to score the game's first run. After Bergami moved to third on an infield groundout, he was knocked in with a liner back to and just out of the reach of Mariner starting righty Al Jordan Johnson, putting the hosts up 2-0.
The Mountaineer defense then helped keep Mitchell from gaining momentum in the top of the third, first with a diving catch by Sciara in left-center to rob freshman rightfielder Neftali Arroyo from potential extra bases. An ensuing chopper in front of the plate then saw Milton slide to field the ball and turn his body to make the play at first.
Mitchell refused to stay off the board after that, however, as the Mariners closed the gap in the top of the fourth with a two-out rally. A single and a walk gave Mitchell base runners, and Arroyo followed with a rope down the left field line to bring in sophomore Evan Peck.
Walks and errors proved costly in the top of the fifth for the Mountaineers when Mitchell put up a crooked six to take the lead, one which the Mariners would never relinquish. The first two batters were able to work walks before sophomore Raphael Garcia laid a bunt down the third base line. As the play would have been close had Bergami chosen to field it, he decided to let the ball roll with the hopes that it would trickle foul. Eventually, the ball hit third to load the pond. The next batter hit one down to Bergami who came up throwing to home, getting help from senior catcher Corey D. Briggs who made the scoop out of the dirt for the force out.
Mitchell didn't waste another opportunity, taking advantage of the bases-loaded situation as a SVC fielding error led to the first two runs of the frame for the 3-2 lead. Mitchell tacked up four more runs before the inning was over, including one on an RBI triple by Arroyo to the right-center gap. That would be all MC needed as Johnson kept the Mountaineers off the board through the rest of the game.
Mitchell provided Johnson with two insurance runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings, first with a two-run double down the left field line by junior Kenneth Olszewski. In the seventh, freshman Eddie Lorah drove in junior Kyle Edgar, who had doubled earlier, with a two-bagger of his own. A double by Garcia then plated Edgar for the eventual 11-2 final.
Johnson bettered his season record on the hill to 5-3 with the complete-game win, allowing just the two runs on five hits and a walk. Milton suffered the loss (1-3) with the 4.2 innings of work in which he gave up seven runs (three earned) on seven hits and four walks.
Bergami finished 1-for-2 with an RBI and run scored while Chris Nicastro was 2-for-3. Jarod Hayen went 1-for-2 with the other RBI in the second.
Olszewski and Arroyo were both 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored for Mitchell.
The loss ended the Mountaineers' postseason chances.
Game 2 -- Mitchell 15, SVC 4
Mitchell kept its offense rolling in the second game, connecting for 15 runs on 17 hits.
Southern Vermont again grabbed the early lead as D. Briggs was brought in by a single from Corey Armstrong. Mitchell responded instantly with a five-run top of the second, again capitalizing on Mountaineer miscues.
Mitchell put up two and three runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively, before throwing another five on the board in the top of the fifth. Two runs came on a double by junior Marc Dorsi as the Mariners went ahead 15-1.
Southern Vermont was able to grab one run back in the fifth and two more in the sixth, but it would not be enough as Mitchell prevented the big inning to close out the 15-4 victory.
Freshman starting right-hander Tyler Shamas earned the win to improve to 8-1 on the season. He gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out five. Mountaineer southpaw Erik Johansen took the loss (2-4) with seven runs given up (four earned) on seven hits and a walk.
D. Briggs went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored for the Mountaineers while Armstrong was 2-for-4 with a RBI. Dan Vardaro went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.
Mitchell sophomore Drew Doyle went 3-for-3 at the dish with one RBI and three runs scored, and Dorsi finished the game 3-for-5 with three RBI and a run. Arroyo was 2-for-4 with two scored and three knocked in while freshman Jon Padilla was also 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.