NEWPORT, R.I. – The Nichols College baseball team suffered a pair of one-run setbacks to Salve Regina University on Friday afternoon in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) doubleheader in Newport, R.I.
The Bison (7-18, 1-3 CCC) are right back in action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Gordon College for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader. Salve Regina improves to 11-10 and 3-3 in conference games with the wins.
Game One – Salve Regina 3, Nichols 2 (11 innings)
Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the top of the seventh, junior Joe Assenza knotted the game at 2-2 with a two-run single to extend the game, but the Bison lost the battle of the bullpens, falling in game one 3-2 in 11 innings.
Assenza ended the day 1-for-4 with the two RBI for the Bison, while senior Chris Anderson and freshman Shay Souza also had 1-for-4 days. Senior Nick Roy went 2-for-3 and worked a pair of walks while stealing three bases, with freshman Nathaniel Cormier adding the other hit for Nichols in a 1-for-5 day.
Junior Danny Hayden allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with three walks and a strikeout in 4.0 innings of work. Freshman Justin Hurley followed, giving up only one hit in two innings pitched, while senior Kevin Kirley scattered two hits and a walk in his two innings. Sophomore Andrew Charbonneau suffered the setback, giving up one unearned run on three hits and a walk in 2.2 innings of work.
Salve Regina junior Colton Eremian and freshman Anthony Cieszko each went 2-for-5, while senior Christian Vargas went 1-for-5 with a run scored. Senior John Militano and freshman Michael DeFusco had an RBI apiece for the Seahawks.
Sophomore Patrick Maybach gave up a pair of unearned runs on five hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in a start that lasted 7.1 innings. Junior Brett Wilkes pitched a perfect 2.1 innings of relief, while freshman Jeremy Lukasiewicz picked up his third win of the season, giving up two hits and striking out one in two innings.
Militano gave the Seahawks a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third with an RBI single, and the home team pushed its lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth as sophomore Dylan Ketch scored on a passed ball.
With their backs against the wall with one out in the top of the seventh, sophomore Christian Naccari worked a walk before classmate Ryan Nesbit also walked following another out to put two runners on. Sophomore Xavier Quinones pinch ran for Nesbit, and both runners moved up a base following a passed ball. Assenza stepped in and delivered the game-tying two out, two run single to extend the game for the Bison.
Both teams had chances to score in extra innings, but it was the Seahawks who came out on top in the top of the 11th. After Vargas singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on a passed ball, Cieszko singled to put runners on the corners with one out. The Bison decided to load the bases after Cieszko took second on a wild pitch, and DeFusco came through with a groundball that plated Vargas and gave the Seahawks the 3-2 win.
Game Two – Salve Regina 6, Nichols 5 (6 innings)
The Bison overcame a four-run deficit in the fifth inning to tie the game, and had cut the Salve Regina lead to 6-5 in the top of the sixth before the game was called due to darkness.
Assenza went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Roy was 1-for-2 with two RBI and freshman Nathaniel Cormier added 1-for-3 day with an RBI and a run scored. Senior Cam Cook went 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Anderson scored a pair of runs in the setback.
Senior Vincent Amato took the loss, allowing six runs on 10 hits with a walk in 6.0 innings.
Dylan Ketch went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while junior Zack Smith was 2-for-3 with a two-run homerun to lead the Seahawks. Michael DeFusco scored two more runs while going 2-for-3, with Vargas and Cieszeko each adding 1-for-2 days with an RBI apiece.
Junior Will Ginsberg earned his first win of the season, giving up five runs on four hits with four walks and four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work. Graduate student Jonathan Lynch picked up his second save of the season, giving up one hit in 0.2 innings.
Smith gave the Seahawks a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and they later built it to a 4-0 advantage on three-straight RBI doubles in the bottom of the fourth.
The Bison rallied in the top of the fifth as they loaded the bases with one out in the inning. Cormier singled up the middle for the first run, and Nick Roy followed with a two-run double to trim the deficit to 4-3. Cam Cook then tied the game at 4-4 with an RBI groundout to shortstop.
Smith answered for the Seahawks in their half of the fifth as he hit a two-run homer to put Salve Regina back in front, 6-4.
With two outs in the top of the sixth and Anderson on third after walking earlier in the inning, Assenza came through again for Nichols with an RBI single to pull the Bison to within 6-5. Unfortunately for the Bison, after the half inning was over, the game was called due to darkness.
All-Time Series
Friday marked the 57th and 58th meeting between the two teams, and Salve Regina improved to 45-13 all-time with the two wins.