NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – The Nichols College baseball team dropped a 9-7 decision to New England College on Monday afternoon in a non-conference battle at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Mass.
 
The Bison fall to 5-9 overall, while NEC improves to 11-3. Nichols is back in action on Thursday afternoon when they travel to Clark University for a 3:30 p.m. game.
 
Senior Cam Cook went 4-for-5 with a pair of runs scored to lead the Nichols offense, while sophomore Ryan Nesbit cranked his first homerun of the year for the Bison while going 1-for-4. Junior Joe Assenza also had a multi-hit day, going 2-for-4 with a run scored, while senior Chris Anderson (1-for-5, R) and freshman Nathaniel Cormier (1-for-4) had two RBI's apiece.
 
Junior Danny Hayden allowed six runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts over four innings of work in the setback. Freshman Justin Hurley gave up a pair of runs with one hit, three walks, and two strikeouts in an inning, while senior Kevin Kirley struck out one in two perfect innings. Freshman Dario Tarquinio gave up one run, while sophomore Brodie Altiere struck out one in one inning pitched.
 
Senior Justin Carey led the Pilgrims on offense, going 1-for-2 with a homerun, three runs scored and a pair of RBI. Junior Christian Aybar was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, while sophomore Luis Atiles was 3-for-5 with two RBI.
 
Sophomore Nick Powers improved to 3-0 on the season, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits with five walks and six strikeouts over 6.2 innings pitched. Sophomore Jameson Carey went 1-for-3 with a run scored, and he also earned his first save of the season, pitching the final 2.1 innings and allowing three runs on five hits with three strikeouts.
 
New England College struck three times in the top of the first as junior Evan Delaney plated a pair of runs with a two-run double and he later scored on an RBI single by Atiles. Justin Carey would make it a 5-0 lead for the Pilgrims with a two-run homerun to left center that scored his brother, Jameson Carey.
 
Nichols broke through in their half of the fifth as Assenza doubled with one out in the inning and then moved to third on a bunt single by freshman Alexander Stroshine. Stroshine eventually stole second, and Chris Andersoncame through with a two-run single to cut the deficit to 5-2. After Cook was retired for the only time in the game allowing Anderson to move up to third, the senior would come in to score on a passed ball to make it a 5-3 game.
 
Hayden ran into a jam in the bottom of the fourth as the Pilgrims were able to load the bases with no outs. The junior responded by striking out Justin Carey for the first out of the inning, and then got some help from Cormier as he turned a groundball into a double play to end the inning.
 
NEC eventually answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth as Atiles drove in a run with a single before the Pilgrims would add a run on a wild pitch to climb back on top 7-3. A sacrifice fly from junior Xavier Nunez in the bottom of the sixth would extend the lead to 8-3.
 
Nichols started its comeback in the bottom of the seventh as Cook reached on a two-out single and senior Nick Roy worked a walk. Sophomore Kyle Bouchard stepped in and dropped a single off the right field line that scored both Cook and Roy to make it an 8-4 game. Nesbit scored the lone run of eighth inning for Nichols with a towering homerun over the fence in left to pull the Bison to within 8-5.
 
NEC loaded the bases again in the eighth, and after Tarquinio failed to record an out, Altiere stepped in and struck out sophomore Stanley Vargas for the first out. Altiere was able to induce a groundball by Nunez, but the Bison were unable to turn it into two outs as NEC scored a run from third to push its lead back to 9-6.
 
Cam Cook led off the ninth with a double to left and he moved to third on an infield single by Roy to put runners on the corners with no outs. Roy took second base, and with two outs in the inning, both players would come in to score on a two-run triple by Cormier to make it a 9-7 game. Unfortunately the comeback would end there as Cormier was stranded at third to end the game on a flyball to centerfield.
 
All-Time Series
Monday was the 33rd meeting between the two programs, and first since the 2011 season. The Bison lead the all-time series, 30-3.