Somerville, Mass. -- Lesley University celebrated Senior Day with a doubleheader split with Mitchell College in New England Collegiate Conference Baseball action this afternoon at Trum Memorial Stadium. After dropping the opener 6-1, the Lynx jumped out to a 6-1 lead in game two before sophomore Nick Iadevaio (Mineola, N.Y.) pitched 3 1/3 inning of scoreless relief to hold on for the 6-5 victory.
In between games, Lesley celebrated the careers of seniors Casey Blanchard (Bernardston, Mass.), Trevor Martin (Whitinsville, Mass.), Koby Mitchell (Fall River, Mass.), and Gustavo Polidor (Caracas, Venezuela) with a Senior Day celebration, thanking the foursome for the dedication and effort to the Lynx Baseball program.
The two teams will square off in the rubber match of the series tomorrow on the Mitchell Campus at 12:00p.
Game One: Mitchell 6, Lesley 1
Box Score
Mitchell senior Al Jordan Johnson (Groton, Conn.) was dominant on the hill for the visitors, allowing just one run on five hits in the complete-game effort. The right-hander racked up 11 strikeouts against just one walk and tossed 67 of this 100 pitches on the day for strikes.
The Mariners would plate a pair of runs in the top of the second before doubling the score to 4-0 in the top of the fifth as sophomore Jack Finnegan (Old Saybrook, Conn.) blasted a two-run home run to left field, his first of the season.
The Lynx would strike with a run in the bottom of the inning when Blanchard scored junior J.P. Agiorgousis (Hanscom, Mass.) with a sacrifice-fly to left field, but that would be all the Lesley offense would be able to muster off of Jordon Johnson.
Mariners junior Tyler Pina (Plainville, Conn.) supplied a pair of insurance runs for the guests in the seventh as he laced a two-run double to left center.
Finnegan finished 1-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored while Pine collected a pair of hits, knocked in two, and scored once. Freshman Peter Abate (Wallingford, Conn.) went 1-for-2 with a run while leadoff hitter Tristan Hurley (Mystic, Conn.) crossed the plate twice.
Junior Mike Slaby (Foxboro, Mass.) powered the Lynx offense with a 2-for-3 day at the plate while Agiiorgousis and freshmen Daniel O'Donnell Jr. (Clark, N.J.) and Jacob Cervantes (Oxnard, Calif.) each finished with one hit.
Game Two: Mitchell 5, Lesley 6
Box Score
The Lesley offense that was dormant in the opener came alive in the early-goings of game two as they opened up a 6-1 lead after three innings.
The Lynx would load the bases with one out in the top of the first before Cervantes opened the scoring with a groundout to second base that allowed Agiorgousis to score. O'Donnell would follow with an infield single to bring in Slaby and freshman Vincent Taliercio (Valley Stream, N.Y.) would cap the scoring in the inning with an RBI single to left as the hosts jumped out quickly, 3-0.
Mitchell would respond in the top of the second with a run as junior Chandler Whitney (Beaverton, Ore.) led off with a triple to the right-center gap and came in one batter later on a ground out by sophomore Garet Griffin (Ashaway, R.I.).
The Lynx would open up a five-run advantage as they pushed across three more runs in the bottom of the third. A Taliercio sac-fly to center would score freshman Ryan Pumphret (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who led the inning off with a double down the right field line, before Lesley caught a break with a Mariner error in the infield to plate the second run of the inning. With a runner on second base and two outs, Blanchard would come through for the Lynx with an RBI single to extend the edge to 6-1.
The five-run advantage would dissipate quickly, however, as Mitchell would plate four in the next half inning to pull within one. With two runners in scoring position and no outs, Griffin would lace an RBI single to left before freshmen Brandon Russo (Lisbon, Conn.) and Markus Melendez (Storrs, Conn.) each produced run-scoring groundouts to cut the score to 6-4. Hurley would cut the deficit to one run as he capped the inning with a solo home run to deep centerfield.
Lesley would threaten as they loaded the bases in the fifth inning with one out, but Mitchell reliever Eddie Santiago (New London, Conn.) would induce a 1-2-3 double-play to escape the jam unscathed.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Mariners would try to rally as Russo looped a two-out double down the left field line, but Iadevaio forced a ground out as the Lynx held on for the 6-5 win.
Iadevaio allowed just three hits and struck out two while earning the win for the hosts.
Slaby would extend his current hit-streak to 11 games, finishing 1-for-3 with a run scored. Pumphret suppled two hits and two runs scored while O'Donnell also added two hits to go with one RBI. Agiorgousis went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Taliercio knocked in a pair.
Pina, Whitney, Griffin, Russo, and sophomore Kyle Hartenstein (Meriden, Conn.) combined for ten of Mitchell's 12 hits as they each finished with a pair of base-knocks. Griffin added a pair of RBI's while Whitney crossed the dish twice.