NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team dropped the rubber match of its weekend series with Becker College by a final score of 8-7 on Sunday afternoon.

Becker (12-6 overall, 5-4 NECC), which batted as the home team, snapped a 3-3 tie with a five-run fifth inning and held on for the victory. Manny Sanchez led the Hawks at the plate by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, and his RBI single in the fifth plated the first run of the rally.

Each side squandered scoring opportunities in the first inning. Mitchell loaded the bases with no outs, but Becker starter Jheremy Brown worked out of the jam by getting consecutive ground balls to third and a strikeout to escape unscathed. Becker then had runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the frame before the Mariners turned a double play to keep the game scoreless.

Becker scratched across a run in the second thanks to some timely hitting. Sanchez got things started with a two-out double down the left field line and scored on a single to center by Mike Marcello. The Hawks added another two-out run in the third when Cody Ewest dumped a double into right field that was nearly snared by a diving Felix Colarte.

The Mariners got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning when sophomore Osmer Collado tripled to right-center and later scored on a wild pitch. Junior John Apostolo then delivered a two-run homer in the fifth to tie the game, sending his team-leading fifth long ball of the season over the right field fence.

Becker broke the game open in the home half of the fifth. Todd Tompkins drew a two-out walk and stole second base to move into scoring position. Sanchez then poked a single to center to drive in the run and put the Hawks up 4-3. Becker took advantage of a lapse in Mitchell's pitching, drawing three consecutive walks and scoring runs on a balk and passed ball, respectively. Austin Phillips followed with a bases-loaded single to center to score the final two runs.

Mitchell answered back with four runs over the next three innings to cut the deficit to one. Collado led off the sixth with a double and later scored on a passed ball. Colarte accounted for two runs in the seventh, drilling an RBI single to center and later scoring on another passed ball. Senior Jeff Perillo walked to lead off the eighth and ended up scoring on a throwing error to cut the margin to 8-7.

Becker closer Jeff Dilorenzo came in to pitch the ninth and shut the door on the Mariners, retiring all three batters he faced to earn his second save of the season. Jason Silbor picked up the win in relief to improve to 4-1 on the year. He threw 2.0 innings and allowed three runs on four hits.

Mitchell will next play a doubleheader at Daniel Webster College on Saturday, April 9 at noon.