North Andover, Mass. (April 9)-The Saint Anselm College baseball team split a NE-10 doubleheader with the Merrimack College Warriors 3-7 and 6-2 Thursday afternoon at Warrior Field. The split makes the Hawks 11-16 overall and 7-5 in conference while the split makes Merrimack 11-14 overall and 2-9 in league contests.

In game one, the Hawks fell behind in the bottom of the second on an RBI fielders choice from Warrior left fielder Steve Buitkus (Reading, Mass.) to make it 1-0 Merrimack.

Saint Anselm answered right back in the top of the third, when left fielder Melvin Purdue (Jonesboro, Georgia) scored on a wild pitch to even the game at 1-1.

Merrimack struck back in the fourth and sixth innings, by adding another run in each, to take a 3-1 lead.

In the top of the seventh, Hawks sophomore catcher Matt Sucharewicz (Peabody, Mass.) homered to centerfield to cut the lead to 3-2 Warriors. Merrimack scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead to 6-2.

The Hawks crossed the plate once in the top of the eighth on an RBI double by Steven Panza (Watertown, Mass.) to cut it to 6-3. But the Warriors added another in the bottom half and the Hawks were shut down in the ninth for the 7-3 loss.

Saint Anselm starter Nick Barese (Braintree, Mass.) went 6.2 innings allowing 10 hits and six earned runs while striking out five in the loss. Merrimack hurler Mike Riley (Medford, Mass.) went seven innings allowing three runs and striking out eight in the win.

The second game, in which the Hawks were the home team, Saint Anselm was led by freshman starter Sean Hayden's (Haverhill, Mass.) performance on the mound. Hayden went seven innings allowing only two hits and two runs while striking out two to pick up his first win of his career. Freshman reliever Tim Cooney (E. Bridgewater, Mass.) would finish off the game throwing two scoreless innings to finish off the Warriors.

Merrimack would score a run in the third and sixth innings to take a 2-0 lead. Matt Hogan (Andover, Mass.) cracked an RBI single in the sixth and finished the day 5-for-8 after a perfect 4-for-4 in the first game.

Saint Anselm hit the scoreboard in the bottom half of the sixth by crossing the plate twice. The first run was scored by sophomore TJ Murphy (Reading, Mass.) when the Warrior pitcher had a throwing error on a groundball from Alex Aguilar (Newbury, Mass.) to cut the lead in half at 2-1. Jimmy Garrigan's (Plymouth, Mass.) RBI groundout would tie the game up at two for the Hawks.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Hawks would explode for four runs when Steven Panza (Watertown, Mass.) and  Ben Waldrip (Medford, Mass.) each knocked two-RBI hits.

The Hawks return to action Saturday, April 11th, as they will host Bentley University for a NE-10 doubleheader starting at noon at Sullivan Park.