NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier baseball team opened up play at home with a sweep of Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe New England College, defeating the Pilgrims by final scores of 2-1 and 7-4 on Friday night at Holman Stadium.
The victories propelled the Raiders to an 8-14 (3-5 GNAC) record as NEC fell to 6-17 (3-5 GNAC).
The Raiders are slated to return to action on Monday, April 14 in a GNAC showdown with Albertus Magnus from Harvey Woods Field beginning at 3:00 p.m.
Rivier 2, New England Col. 1
After five scoreless innings to begin the game, NEC got on the board in the top of the sixth as Jaken Pellerin sent a solo shot to left center to give the guests the lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, senior JD Normand scored classmate Kyle Hsu on an RBI single to left to even the score. Fellow senior Luis Tejada singled right after put two on with just one out. From there, NEC's starter, Stephen Dunham, walked juniors Dylan Aliberti and Owen Medlock to force in the eventual winning run.
Junior closer Ty Baker came in for the save in the ninth and sealed the deal with a fly out to secure the Raiders' second conference victory of the season.
Senior lefthander Nate Bonacorsi went 6.2 innings, allowing one run on six hits and three walks while striking out on Pilgrim batter.
Rivier 7, New England Col. 4
After NEC put up two runs in the opening frame, Rivier responded with two of its own as junior Nathan Innerfield recorded a sacrifice fly, scoring classmate Owen Medlock, who had led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk. After senior JD Normand singled to right center, classmate Luis Tejada blasted a ball in the right center gap to earn a stand-up RBI triple, tying the game at 2-2.
A wild pitch in the fourth plated Yeri Ramos of NEC as the Pilgrims narrowly regained the lead.
Still trailing in the bottom of the seventh, Rivier rallied to post three runs to retake the lead, 5-3. Normand stayed hot at the plate, notching an RBI double to left center to tie things up. With the bases loaded, senior Jacob Boudreau pushed in a run with a fielder's choice hit to the shortstop to put the Raiders in front. Sophomore Colton Colleran singled to right center on the next at bat to increase the advantage to two runs.
The Pilgrims got one back in the eighth, scoring on a sacrifice fly, to make it a 5-4 Rivier lead. Rivier went to the pen with two runners on and one out to bring in the junior closer Ty Baker for a five-out save. Baker struck out the next to batters to get out of the jam. Junior Dylan Aliberti then came up clutch in the bottom half, recording a two RBI single to center to give the Raiders some breathing room, now leading by three.
In the top of the ninth, Baker forced three groundouts to snag his second save of the day and secure the sweep.
Junior Anthony Morro got the win, going 7.0 innings allowing three runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks while fanning six batters faced.
Aliberti went 2-for-5 with two runs batted in followed by Normand's 2-for-4 performance, knocking in one run and scoring three times.
