AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Mitchell College rode a pair of strong pitching performances to a doubleheader sweep of Waynesburg University on Thursday at the RussMatt Invitational, winning by final scores of 3-0 and 13-0.
Roland Thivierge faced only two batters over the minimum and allowed just one hit in the opener, striking out seven over 7.0 scoreless innings. Jakari Pellegrini followed suit in the second game, tossing 6.0 scoreless frames while allowing four hits and fanning six.
Mitchell has now won three straight games and improved to 4-3 on the season. The Mariners wrap up their spring trip with a single game against Saint Joseph's College (Maine) on Friday, March 6 at 9 a.m.
Game 1 – Mitchell 3, Waynesburg 0
Pellegrini drew a bases-loaded walk in the second to stake Mitchell to a 1-0 advantage. Back-to-back doubles by Steve Cochrane and Dougie DelaCruz bumped the lead to 2-0 in the third, and DelaCruz later added a sacrifice fly in the seventh for the final run of the contest.
Thivierge was locked in throughout and didn't need the additional run support. He retired the first eight batters of the game before giving up the lone hit in the third inning. After another Waynesburg player reached base on an error to start the fourth, Thivierge then retired 12 straight batters to close out the game, with the final two coming via strikeout.
Thivierge, who improved to 2-0 on the season, has yet to give up a run in 14.0 innings of work. Over that span he has recorded 11 strikeouts without issuing a walk.
Cochrane paced the offense with a 3-for-4 day at the plate that included a pair of doubles.
Game 2 – Mitchell 13, Waynesburg 0
Mitchell's bats came to life in the second game and put up crooked numbers in four of the seven innings. Jeremy Santos went 2-for-3 with a double, triple and four RBI to lead the charge. Michael Santiago and John-John Jose each added a pair of hits and drove in two runs apiece.
DelaCruz led off the second inning with a triple and scored the game's first run on a throwing error. A double steal yielded another run before Santos delivered a two-out double to make it a 3-0 game.
The Mariners added two more runs in the fourth thanks to an RBI triple by Jose and a sacrifice fly by Santos. One inning later, Santiago and Jose each provided RBI singles while Santos tripled in a run to make it 9-0.
Mitchell's final four runs all came in the sixth. Santiago plated a run with a bases-loaded walk, and Devyn McCarty knocked in two with a single to left center. Another Yellow Jackets error led to the 13th and final run of the day.
Pellegrini didn't allow a runner past second base en route to his first victory of the season, evening his record at 1-1. Camren Varney pitched a clean seventh inning to seal the combined shutout.