HENNIKER, N.H. – Second-seeded Mitchell College erased a two-run deficit and posted a 6-3 victory over third-seeded Eastern Nazarene College on Friday in the opening round of the 2022 New England Collegiate Conference Baseball Championship at Laurie Cox Memorial Field.
Juan Abreu plated the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, and Kenny Heon pitched the Mariners to the finish with 4.1 innings of scoreless relief. Bo Yaworski also homered in the contest, which saw Mitchell score five unanswered runs to move into the winner's bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
The Mariners (27-10 overall) advance to a Saturday showdown against top-seeded New England College. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
After a sacrifice fly by Owen Robbins put Mitchell on the scoreboard in the second inning, Eastern Nazarene fired back with two runs in the third to snatch away the lead. The Lions tied the game on a wild pitch and later pulled in front on an RBI single by Steven Pesce.
An error proved costly for the Mariners in the fifth, allowing the Lions to extend the lead to 3-1. Mitchell got the run back in the bottom of the frame as a two-out RBI double from Dougie DelaCruz cut the deficit to one.
Lelo Martinez led off the Mitchell sixth with a single through the left side, and he came around to score the tying run when Matt Falk singled off the pitcher, and a wild throw to first base ended up in right field. Falk advanced all the way to third thanks to the miscue, and a ground ball by Abreu brought him home to put the Mariners up 4-3.
Mitchell added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. B. Yaworski clubbed his fourth homer of the season to get things started, and four batters later Falk tacked on a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.
Heon, who entered the game in the fifth inning and worked out of a tight spot, allowed only two hits and struck out four en route to the win. Though he hit trouble in the eighth—ENC put two on with no outs—he escaped unscathed, retiring the final six batters he faced to improve to 2-1.
Mitchell starter Camren Varney went 4.2 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits while fanning three. ENC's John Tessier took the loss, surrendering six runs (three earned) on eight hits over 7.0 innings.
B. Yaworski, DelaCruz and Falk each finished with a pair of hits in the contest. Juan Jacobo Lopez had three hits to pace the Lions.