Winter Haven, Fla. – The Western New England baseball team scored the first six runs in its game versus Trinity College en route to an 11-1 rain-shortened victory on Monday afternoon at Chain of Lakes Park. The two regional rivals met in non-conference action at the RussMatt Invitational. With the victory the Golden Bears improved to 3-4, while the Bantams moved to 2-2 on the young season.
Western New England struck early, scoring a pair of runs in the first and added three more in the third to take an early 5-0 lead. Jed Robinson (Winchester, Mass.) got the start for Trinity and was the tough-luck loser, allowing five runs (four earned) while fanning three in three innings of work. On the opposite side, Ryan Skelly went the distance for the Golden Bears, scattering eight hits and surrendering just one run.
Offensively, WNE had five players with multi-hit games. Daniel Morin paced the attack, going 3-for-3 with a trio of RBIs, while Steve Ambrosino added three hits and Kevin Marciano had two hits and two RBIs.
David Pidgeon (Darien, Conn.) had another strong game for the Bantams, going 3-for-3 with the team's lone RBI. Trinity's three through six hitters went 6-for-12 on the afternoon, while the rest of the squad was 2-for-12. Skelly mixed his pitches and work out of jams to keep the Trinity offense at bay all afternoon.
Trinity produced its run thanks to a leadoff double by centerfielder Scott Huley (Greenwich, Conn.) in the bottom of the fourth and Pidgeon followed with an RBI single to center. At the time, it cut the deficit to 6-1. Brian Wolfe (La Habra Heights, Calif.) followed Pidgoen's single with one of his own to start a rally for the Bantams. However, Skelly would pitch his way out of trouble, retiring the next three hitters in order.
Nicholas Mennino (Swampscott, Mass.) and Christian Reynolds (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) pitched well in relief for the Bantams, combining to allow to one earned run in three innings of work.
In the home half of the seventh, Carson Kenney (Kensington, Md. ) lined a single for the Bantams as the skies opened up. After a brief conference between the coaches and umpires, the game was called.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Trinity loaded the bases with one out in the first before play was called due to the inclement weather. The Bantams and Golden Bears will look to continue the contest later in the week.
The baseball team returns to action tomorrow, Mar. 18, squaring off with regional rival Endicott at 1:30 p.m.