WINTER PARK, FLA. - The Saint Anselm baseball
team travelled to Winter Park, Florida this evening to take on the
Rollins College Tars in the first of two games this week. The
Hawks led 11-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, but
the Hawks' relievers struggled, allowing nine runs in three
innings, six of which came in the bottom of the ninth, to fall to
the Tars 12-11. The win extends the Tars' current winning
streak to five games, improving their record to 11-5 (3-0 Sunshine
St.), while the Hawks drop to 1-5 (0-0 NE-10).
The Hawks started off strong, scoring seven runs on seven hits
in the first two innings while holding the Tars to just one.
Richie Manzi (Plymouth, N.H.) led off for the
Hawks with a single up the middle. Robert Kelly
(Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) advanced him to third
with a double down the leftfield line, and Daniel DeCoste
(Chelmsford, Mass.) drove him home with a sacrifice fly to
right field. Matt Sucharewicz (Peabody,
Mass.) then hit an RBI single to left field to score
Kelly, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead in the first.
Rett Ostafin (Avon, Conn.) started the second
inning with a single up the middle, and Steven Panza
(Watertown, Mass.) followed with a single to center.
Joshua Lafond (Goffstown, N.H.) loaded the bases,
getting on by an error by the third baseman. Manzi scored
Ostafin on an RBI single, and then Robert Kelly came up to the
plate with the bases loaded. The rookie first baseman, who'd
hit a double off Danny Clark in the first inning,
came up looking for more, as he drove a grand slam over the right
field wall to make it 7-0.
Hawk pitcher Bret Bartlett (Duxbury, Mass.),
who came in to face the third batter in the first inning after
starter Matt Stone (West Roxbury, Mass.) took a
line drive to the foot, allowed just three runs through the end of
the sixth inning. Three hits and four consecutive walks led
to the Hawks scoring four more runs in the top of the seventh to
create comfortable 11-3 lead, however in the next three innings,
the wheels began to come off.
Bartlett had been cruising through 5.2 innings, but in the
bottom of the seventh, he allowed a leadoff walk followed by an RBI
triple and another walk, resulting in two runs. Mike
O'Rourke (Falmouth, Mass.) came in to relieve him, and got
out of the inning quickly, with a ground-ball double play and a
strikeout. However two one-out walks and a double in the
eighth led to another Tar run, cutting their deficit to five.
Eric Simm (Salem, N.H.) came in for O'Rourke in
the bottom of the ninth, hoping to protect the Hawks' five-run lead
and give the team its second win of the season. While he
closed out the ninth inning 1-2-3 on Monday against Saint Leo, he
struggled with control today, allowing six runs on five hits and
three walks, getting just one out before the Tars took the lead
with a walk-off single by Kevin Mager, resulting
in the Hawks' second consecutive loss in the bottom of the ninth.
After Clark gave up seven runs in 1.1 innings, the Tars'
pitching staff settled down. William Krasne
allowed two runs on just one hit in 5.1 innings. Steven
Gropler and Bobby Coster each faced just
two batters, allowing three walks and a single for two runs in the
seventh, and Chad Giannuzzi closed out the game,
allowing just one hit and no runs in the final 2.1 innings and
earning his first win.
The Hawks hope to avenge their tough loss tomorrow night with a
rematch against Rollins beginning at 6:00 pm.
