HENNIKER, NH -- New England College knocked off the visiting Lynx 12-5 and 18-3 Wednesday at Laurie Cox Memorial Stadium.
Lesley freshman Tyler Plourd stayed red-hot, going a combined 5-for-6 on the day. The outfielder went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI in Game 1 and went 2-for-2 with a walk and a run in Game 2.
Trailing in the third inning of the opener, freshman Ryan McQuade scored on a wild pitch to cut the margin to 4-1, but the Pilgrims got the run back in the bottom half on an error by catcher David Hersey.
Lesley would pull within a run with a three-run fifth. Plourd drove in center fielder Robert Parson, who singled and stole second, with an RBI single, stole third and came around to score on an error by NEC catcher Juan Berrios. Aqib Shah singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a Peter Plansky base hit to bring the Lynx within a run at 4-3.
The Pilgrims again answered, chipping away at Lesley freshman starter Ray Cohen for a run in the third and four in the bottom of the fifth. A pair of RBI singles, a run-scoring wild pitch and an RBI groundout drove Cohen from the game trailing 9-4 after five innings of work, and the Pilgrims went on to win 12-5.
Parson doubled, scored and drove in a run, going 2-for-3, and fellow freshman Andrew Cootware also collected a pair of hits, going 2-for-4 in the opener.
The Lynx responded by opening Game 2 with a two-run first to take an early lead, again compliments of Plourd. The freshman singled, swiped second and scored on a Ryan Genua base knock. With the bases loaded, frosh Joe Muratore plated Shah with an RBI single, but McQuade popped out to end the rally at 2-0.
The Pilgrims hot bats carried over to the nightcap, earning a run back in the bottom of the first before breaking through for four in the second off Nick Dolan in his first start of 2012. Three straight run-scoring singles preceded an RBI double from right fielder Lucas Burgess, leaving the Pilgrims up 5-2 after two.
Dolan put two on base to lead off the fifth and was relieved by Joseph Santos, who saw runners score via wild pitch and a Muratore error. A Kevin Caputo double scored Pierce Byrd, and Santos came back with a strikeout and a fly out, but not before the Pilgrims opened up a 7-2 lead.
Lesley scored a run in the fifth on a McQuade sac fly that plated Plansky, but a two-run bottom of the fifth and an eight-run sixth put the doubleheader sweep away for NEC, winning 18-3.
Byrd captained the Pilgrims, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three driven in, and left fielder Chris Biskup went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI's from the bottom of the New England order.
For the Lynx, Muratore went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the setback.
At 3-13 (2-3 NECC), the Lynx return home for a New England Collegiate Conference double-dip on Saturday, playing host to Daniel Webster with first pitch at 1 p.m.