New England College Baseball Splits NAC Doubleheader with Castleton

Recap, photo courtesy of New England College

HENNIKER, N.H. – The New England College Baseball would extend their win streak to 13 games with a 21-5 victory in game one but would fall in game 2, 6-0 to split their doubleheader with Castleton.

The Pilgrims will now be 14-4 on the season with a 3-1 record in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) while Castleton with go to 7-8 overall with a 1-1 record in the NAC.

GAME ONE: NEC 21, CASTLETON 5
The Pilgrims bats backed a strong start from Nick Powers (Malden, Mass.). Castleton would take
advantage of two early mistakes by the Pilgrims to take a 1-0 lead in the top half of the first inning. The Pilgrims would respond with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning, capitalizing on a wild pitch and a bases loaded walk.

The Pilgrims would blow the game wide open with an 11-run bottom of the third inning that saw two baseballs fly out of Laurie Cox Memorial Field. Xavier Nunez (Lawrence, Mass.) and Manuel Alejandro (East Hartford, Conn.) both hit their second homeruns of the season. Both were three run homeruns off the bats of the junior duo. The Pilgrims would add another run in the bottom of the fourth before Castleton attempted to close the gap with a three-run homerun of their own to close the gap to 14-5.

The Pilgrims would add a lone run in the bottom of the fifth before tacking on another six runs in the bottom of the sixth. Three of those runs came on a three-run homerun by Christian Aybar (Pawtucket, R.I.). Aybar now holds the outright lead on the team in homeruns with four.

Powers threw 5.0 innings, allowing five runs, three earned, on four hits while striking out two batters to improve to 4-0 on the season. Brendan Halloran (Grafton, Mass.) and Christopher States (Rochester, N.H.) each pitched one inning in relief.

GAME TWO: CASTLETON 6, NEC 0
Game two saw both teams with early opportunities but neither could capitalize on them. The Spartans would get the first runs across the board in the top of the fourth inning by capitalizing on a Pilgrim error. The score would stay 2-0 until the top of the seventh inning when Castleton would pounce on three pitching changes by the Pilgrims. The Spartans would drive across four runs in the top half of the final frame. The Pilgrims had opportunities to drive home runs in their half of the final frame but ultimately ended the game with the bases loaded. The Pilgrims would strand nine runners on base in game two.

Shayne Audet (Springfield, Mass.) would throw 6.0 innings, allowing only one hit, giving up two runs, and striking out nine in a losing effort. Audet is now 4-1 on the season.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Pilgrims will be in action on Thursday when they travel to in-state NAC foe, Colby-Sawyer, for a doubleheader, starting at 2 p.m.