WATERTOWN, Mass. – The Lynx took the season series over Newbury College with an 8-4 win tonight in extra frames at Victory Park in Watertown, Mass. Sophomore third baseman John Gosnell (Toronto, Canada) went two-for-five with a double and two RBIs en route to the four-run victory.
The Nighthawks pulled the score even in the bottom of the seventh to send it into extras before the Lynx batted around in the top of the tenth to grab their second consecutive win. Newbury falls to 8-22 and 2-13 in conference play while Lesley improves to 11-11 and 5-6 in NECC action.
Sophomore Robert Parson (Commack, N.Y.) opened the game ripping a double into right field. Two batters later, following his eighth steal of the season, junior rightfielder Tyler Plourd (Canton, Conn.) gave the Lynx the 1-0 lead, driving home Parson with the game's first run.
However, the lead did not last for very long. Sophomore designated hitter Michael Perillo (Mansfield, Mass.) opened the home half of the first working a one-out walk before advancing into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from junior leftfielder Michael Dwyer (Hamden, Conn.). First year third baseman Ryan Zahornasky(Shelton, Conn.) continued the torrid year he has been having at the dish rocketing a double to drive home Perillo from second to knot up the game at 1-1.
Lesley regained the lead an inning later. After getting a quick two outs, sophomore designated hitter Ryan McQuade (Rochester, N.H.) kept the inning alive, rocketing his second triple of the season to plate classmate, leftfielder Ray Cohen (Coventry, Conn.) for the Lynx's second run of the game.
For the next three innings, Newbury senior righthander Chris Ninteau (Lisbon, Conn.) kept Lesley off the scoreboard until the top of the sixth when the Lynx pushed across another two runs to take the three-run, 4-1 lead. But the Nighthawks were resilient and battled their way back.
Zahornasky opened the bottom of the sixth with walk before getting on his high horse and scoring all the way from first on a double by sophomore first baseman Ryan Sinclair (Portsmouth, R.I.). Two batters later after sophomore second baseman Cameron D'Agostino (Salisbury, Mass.) reached on an error, first year right fielder Mack Flynn (Windham, N.H.) lined a base-hit the opposite way to drive home Sinclair with the third Newbury run and cut the deficit to 4-3.
Sophomore righthander Lyndon Brundige (Rockland, Mass.) came on in relief of Ninteau and tossed two solid innings allowing just one hit while striking out one to give the Nighthawks an opportunity to knot up the score in the bottom of the seventh.
In the home half of the seventh, Perillo beat out an infield single to shortstop then advanced to second on an error. Two batters later, Perillo advanced 90 feet on Dwyer's fly ball to center, Zahornasky grounded out to second baseman, in the back door came Perillo, who was off on contact, to tie up the ballgame at four.
It remained a tie game for the next two innings until the top of the 10th when the Lynx batted around and knocked D'Agostino, who came on in the top of the ninth, out of the game. The North Shore native got two quick outs to open the 10th, but senior shortstop Aqib Shah (Watertown, Mass.) kept the inning alive with a base-hit to left which opened the flood gates as the Lynx scored four times – all charged to D'Agostino – on five hits.
Lesley first year southpaw Koby Mitchell (Fall River, Mass.) earned his first victory of the season and collegiate career tossing a perfect one-two-three bottom of the ninth with one strikeout.
The Nighthawks return to the diamond this weekend for a three-game home-and-away series against Becker College. First pitch of Saturday afternoon's twin-bill in Leicester, Mass. is slated for 12:00 p.m. The Lynx will also be in action this Saturday when they travel to New London, Conn. for a double-header against Mitchell College at 12:00 p.m.