HAVERHILL, Mass. – After dropping its first game of the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) series with Lesley University, the Southern Vermont College baseball team came back with a pair of stellar pitching performances to down the Lynx 2-1 in the eighth and then 5-2 Saturday afternoon at Trinity Stadium.
The Mountaineers garner their second league tiebreaker while improving to 4-2 in Conference play (6-15 overall).
SVC next hosts Daniel Webster College at home on Monday for a single NECC contest set to begin at 3 p.m.
GAME 1: Southern Vermont 2 – Lesley 1 (8 inn.)
The Lynx tacked up a solo run in the bottom of the first to grab the lead. That would be the final LU run of the game, however, as SVC kept the hosts from scoring the rest of the way. The Mountaineers knotted it a 1-1 in the fourth, and that score stood through the originally-scheduled seven innings.
Southern Vermont didn't take long to bring home the potential scoring run with one in the top of the eighth. The visitors then forced Lesley to strand two runners on base in the home half of the extra frame to tie season series.
SVC sophomore center fielder Zack Stacey (Saratoga, N.Y.) went 1-4 in the game as junior right fielder Niko D'Agnese (Mahopac, N.Y.) was 2-4 with a run scored. Mountaineer freshman Connor Pingitore (Amsterdam, N.Y.) tallied the team's only RBI with the go-ahead sacrifice fly to right in the top of the eighth.
Senior righty Dylan Angelo (Amsterdam, N.Y.) tossed a stellar eight innings on the mound—allowing just the one run on three hits and three walks while striking out four in the win (2-2).
D'Agnese was left at second after tallying a single in the top of the first, and Angelo then recorded his first 1-2-3 inning of the day. Lesley loaded the pond with one down in the second, and a sac fly to left allowed the first run of the day to come in.
D'Agnese began the top of the fourth with another base hit, and this time he would made it hurt after moving up to second on an LU error. With two outs, a Lesley miscue allowed D'Agnese to score from third and tie the game at 1-1.
SVC got two on with one out in the fifth but could not turn it into run support for Angelo; the Mountaineer captain would only see three batters in the home half, however, after sophomore catcher Dan Mason (Bloomingdale, N.J.) threw out his eighth runner trying to steal this year.
Angelo retired the Lesley side in order in the sixth, and a double play turned by the Southern Vermont infield in the seventh allowed the senior captain to face just nine batters in the last three innings of the scheduled seven-frame contest.
LU didn't do itself any favors in the eighth as a leadoff error allowed sophomore Joseph Braim (Schuylerville, N.Y.) to reach second. A balk by the Lynx pitcher moved Braim up to third with no outs, and that's when Pingitore tagged one deep enough to right for the Mountaineer runner to touch the dish and give his team the lead.
The next two SVC batters would go down, and Lesley then got some action by placing the tying run at second and the winning run at first in the bottom of the eighth. Angelo was able to notch an ensuing strikeout, however, to get out of the jam and tie the series at one game apiece.
GAME 2: Southern Vermont 5 – Lesley 2
Each team scored once in the first inning of game two before SVC tacked on a pair in the top of the second. Lesley answered with a lone run in the home half of the frame, and the 3-2 tally lasted through the end of the sixth.
Southern Vermont then scored twice in the seventh to go up by three, and the Mountaineers closed out the sweep with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the box.
Stacey was 1-4 with an RBI—extending his hitting streak to 17 games. Junior left fielder Luigi Magliocca (Broadalbin, N.Y.) was 1-1 with a walk and two runs scored, and both freshman second baseman Noah DuBois (Barrington, N.H.) and sophomore designated hitter Cody Sullivan (Schuylerville, N.Y.) were 1-3 with an RBI.
Braim improved his season record from the hill to 2-1 as he allowed just the two runs on five hits while striking out four in the complete game.
With two down in the top of the first, SVC freshman Anthony LaBella (Exeter, N.H.) worked a walk to get aboard. He then motored around the diamond as Sullivan roped an RBI-double for the early lead. Lesley would answer with a run in the bottom of the frame to tie things at 1-1.
Southern Vermont got some two-out action going again in the second as a walk and a hit by pitch allowed Stacey to register a run-scoring single. D'Agnese notched an ensuing base hit for Magliocca to score from second and make it a 3-1 game.
LU got one back in the bottom of the second with a solo home run, but Braim ended the inning before getting Lesley to leave the pond loaded in the third. The SVC infield turned a double play in the fourth, and Braim then retired the Lynx side in order in the fifth.
After Lesley squandered a one-out double opportunity in the bottom of the sixth, the Mountaineers tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. LaBella tagged a two-out single to put a pair of runners on base, and SVC then worked a walk to load the pond. Another fourth ball brought Magliocca in for a run, and DuBois took one to the body for LaBella to score.
Braim finished strongly—getting the Lynx to go down in order in the home half of the seventh for his fourth career win.
– #LetsGoSVC –