Manchester, N.H. (April 26) -- The Saint Anselm baseball team dropped a pair of games to Southern Connecticut on Saturday afternoon at Sullivan Park. The Hawks dropped the first game, 8-0, and fell in the second game, 8-3. The pair of losses drop the Hawks to 15-26 overall, 11-17 in Northeast-10 play. The Owls improve to 29-15 overall, 19-6 in league play.

In game one, the Owls jumped on the board with a pair of runs in both the first and second innings. Anthony Fiorillo (New Haven, Conn.) belted his third homerun of the year in the first inning, a two-run shot, to bring in Karl Derbacher (Northford, Conn.). Justin Cox (Newburgh, N.Y.) and Greg Malen (Stamford, Conn.) hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the second to put the Owls up 4-0.

The Owls picked up another two runs in the fifth, as Fiorillo singled home Kevin Bowerman (West Haven, Conn.) and Mo Davidson (Winsted, Conn.) singled in Fiorillo later in the inning.

The Owls closed out the scoring with a pair of runs in the ninth. A Mike Diaz (Monroe, Conn.) RBI triple was followed up by an RBI single from Bowerman, as the Owls took game one 8-0.

Brian Lazor (Hewitt, N.J.) was masterful for the Owls, tossing a complete game to improve his record to 2-1. Lazor allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out eight in the complete-game effort. Andrew Long (Peabody, Mass.) took the loss for the Hawks, dropping his record to 4-5. Long allowed eight hits through five innings and six runs while picking up a pair of strikeouts.

Ryan Gargan (Byfield, Mass.) had a pair of hits for the Hawks, while Adam Hussey (Danvers, Mass.) and Ben Gunn (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) had a single each.

In game two, the Owls jumped on the board first again. Andrew Babb's (Hopkinton, Mass.) RBI single in the second put the Owls up 1-0. Derbacher and Davidson both had RBI singles in the third to put the Owls up 3-0.

The Hawks came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Matt Sucharewicz (Peabody, Mass.) had an RBI double, while Ryan O'Rourke (Norwood, Mass.) picked up an RBI with a single later in the inning.

The Owls responded with four runs in the top of the fourth though. Diaz brought home a run with a double and Bowerman brought home another run with a single to put the Owls up 5-2. A double steal allowed Diaz to score and Derbacher had an RBI single.

The Hawks got a run back in the sixth as T.J. Murphy (Reading, Mass.) scored on a throwing error. The Owls kept the Hawks off the board from there on out though and tacked on a run in the ninth to take the 8-3 victory.

Edward Bethke (Branford, Conn.) improved his record to 4-2 with the win, working six innings, scattering nine hits and allowing just two earned runs with a strikeout. Bryce Bjorklund (Branford, Conn.) picked up his fourth save of the season, working the last three innings allowing just one hit while picking up a pair of strikeouts.

Mike Fantini (Haverhill, Mass.) took the loss for the Hawks, striking out six over 3.2 innings but allowed seven runs on 10 hits. Kyle Lavin (Shelton, Conn.) threw well in relief, tossing 4.1 shutout innings, allowing just three hits with a pair of strikeouts.

The Hawks are back in action tomorrow, traveling to Southern Connecticut for a 1 p.m. game.