NEW HAVEN, CONN. – The Saint Anselm baseball team headed down to Connecticut this afternoon for a doubleheader at No. 18 Southern Connecticut State University.  The Hawks kept Southern Connecticut within reach in both games, but the Owls, who have been ranked No. 1 in the NCAA East Region poll for the past two weeks, came away with a doubleheader sweep with a 5-3 victory in game one followed by a 19-15 win in the second game.  The Owls maintain their top spot in the Northeast-10 standings with a 31-9-1 (19-5 NE-10) record, while the Hawks fall to 10-26 (8-14 NE-10).

Game One: Southern Connecticut 5, Saint Anselm 3

After both teams went down 1-2-3 in the first inning, the Owls got things started in the bottom of the second, as A.J. Rouleau led off with a single to center.  Jordan Hockenberry then got on base due to an error by third baseman Daniel DeCoste (Chelmsford, Mass.), and Bryan Dorsey loaded the bases with a single to right.  Michael Cleary then hit a base-clearing triple to deep right center to drive in three runs for the Owls.  Cleary got thrown out at the plate on the next play, as Greg Malen hit a soft grounder to pitcher Sean Hayden (Haverhill, Mass.).  However, Kyle Rosadino drove in Malen with a double to right center, making it 4-0 Owls by the end of the second inning.

The Owls threatened again in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with two outs, but Hayden struck out Hockenberry to end the inning.

Owl starter Ryan Yerina had retired 10 straight batters through the end of the sixth inning, but Robert Kelly (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) ended the Hawks' offensive drought with a leadoff double in the top of the seventh.  Matt Sucharewicz (Peabody, Mass.) followed him with an RBI double, but the Hawks then went down in order, stranding Sucharewicz on second.

The Owls responded in the bottom of the seventh to get that run back and go up 5-1.  Rosadino led off with a single to left.  Nick DeProspo and Ryan Geffert both got on by errors, and Hockenberry drove in Rosadino on a sacrifice fly.

David Giarrusso (Cranston, R.I.) started the bottom of the eighth by getting to first due to an error by the third baseman.  Pinch runner Joshua Lafond (Goffstown, N.H.) got to second on a wild pitch, and Richie Manzi (Plymouth, N.H.) made it first and third with a single.  Robert Kelly then stepped up to the plate and hit a two-out, two-RBI double to right center to make it 5-3.

Matt Sucharewicz threw out Rosadino on his way to second to end the bottom of the eighth, but the Hawks were unable to put together any more runs in the top of the ninth, falling in game one by a score of 5-3.

Robert Kelly led the Hawks at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two doubles, a run and two RBI.  Owl centerfielder Michael Cleary went 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBI.

Owl pitcher Ryan Yerina allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits while striking out seven in a complete game.  Sean Hayden allowed five runs, two earned, on seven hits and three strikeouts in six innings, and Mike Fantini (Haverhill, Mass.), who relieved Hayden after the first batter in the seventh, allowed just one hit over the final two innings.

Game Two: Southern Connecticut 19, Saint Anselm 15

The Hawks' bats exploded at the start of game two, scoring four runs on five hits and two walks in the top of the first.  James Garrigan (Plymouth, Mass.) started it off with a one-out single to left.  Kelly hit his third consecutive double to make it second and third, and Sucharewicz scored them both on a single through the left side.  TJ Murphy (Reading, Mass.) kept it going with a single to left and Rett Ostafin (Avon, Conn.) walked to load the bases.  Daniel DeCoste hit an RBI single to center field, and Joshua Lafond walked in the Hawks' fourth run before Steve Simon struck out the final two batters to end the inning.

The Owls stranded two leadoff runners in the bottom of the first, and James Garrigan got the Hawks going again in the top of the second with a leadoff single.  Kelly got hit by a pitch, and then the two pulled off a double steal to make it second and third.  Murphy scored Garrigan on a single to right field and Ostafin drove in Kelly on a single to left, making it 6-0 Hawks.

Hockenberry hit a leadoff single through the left side in the bottom of the second to stir things up for the Owls.  After Dorsey flew out to center, Cleary and Malen loaded the bases with back-to-back singles.  Rosadino scored Hockenberry on a sacrifice fly, and DeProspo prolonged the inning, getting on base due to DeCoste's error at third, which allowed Cleary to score.  Geffert then scored Malen and DeProspo on a two-base error by second baseman Steven Panza (Watertown, Mass.), before Panza made the next play for the final out of the inning.

Panza drew a one-out walk in the top of the third, and Manzi laid down a sacrifice bunt to put him on second.  Garrigan got on by Geffert's error at short, and Kelly drove in Panza with a single to left.  Sucharewicz got hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Murphy then hit a two-out, two-RBI single to center.  Sucharewicz and Murphy both moved up on a wild pitch by reliever Sean Leahy, and Ostafin walked to reload the bases.  However, DeCoste then stranded three with a strikeout to end the inning, but not before the Hawks put up three more runs to make it 9-4.

Eric Schlitter got the ball rolling for the Owls in the bottom of the third with a single.  Hesek struck out Hockenberry and got Dorsey to fly out, but the Owls then loaded the bases with singles by Cleary and Malen.  Rosadino then hit a ball to third base which turned into a base-clearing, three-base error, allowing three runs to cross the plate.  DeProspo then tied the game in one swing, smashing a two-run homer over the wall in left field to make it 9-9 before Hesek struck out Geffert to end the inning.

After allowing a leadoff double to Joshua Lafond, Leahy got three straight infield outs to strand Lafond on second.  The Owls stranded the leadoff runner on third in the bottom of the fourth, but Rosadino gave the Owls the lead in the fifth with a solo homer.

The Owls significantly increased their lead in the sixth inning, as they started off with a walk followed by five straight singles.  Rosadino grounded into a double play, but DeProspo hit an RBI triple before Geffert made the last out.  At the end of the sixth, the Owls led 16-10.

Mike O'Rourke (Falmouth, Mass.) replaced Kyle Lavin (Shelton, Conn.) on the mound in the bottom of the seventh, but he began by allowing a double, an RBI triple, and a sacrifice fly, followed by another triple and sacrifice fly.  He then walked Malen, who got to second on a wild pitch, and then scored on an RBI double by Rosadino, before O'Rourke struck out Cody Sestito for the third out.

The Hawks entered the top of the eighth with their work cut out for them, trailing 19-9.  They started off by loading the bases with three consecutive singles by Ostafin, DeCoste, and pinch-hitter Matt Greeke (S. Hamilton, Mass.).  Panza reached first on an error by the shortstop, scoring Ostafin, and Manzi walked in DeCoste.  Garrigan drove in Greeke with an RBI single to left, and Kelly scored Panza with a single to right, but Manzi was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second.  Pinch-hitter Andrew Chandler (Westford, Mass.) kept it going with an RBI single to center, before Tyler Albrecht went out to the mound to replace Kyle Penney.  Albrecht allowed a single to Murphy and walked Ostafin with the bases loaded, and was then replaced by Ed Bethke, who got two quick outs to end the eighth.  The Hawks scored six big runs in the inning, closing the gap to 19-15.

James Farrington (West Milford, N.J.) shut down the Owls 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth, and the Hawks headed back to the bench looking for four more runs.  Garrigan and Kelly hit back-to-back two-out singles to keep the game alive, but John DiBenedetto (Valrico, Fla.) popped up to the first baseman to end the game with a final score of 19-15, Owls. 

Robert Kelly went 5-for-5 with a double, a walk, a hit batsman, four runs, and two RBI, reaching base in all seven plate appearances.  James Garrigan went 4-for-7 with four runs and an RBI, and TJ Murphy went 4-for-6 with a run and three RBI.

The two teams combined to use 10 pitchers in the game.  Neil Hesek started on the mound for the Hawks, allowing nine runs, though only two were earned, on eight hits in three innings.  Kyle Lavin pitched the next three innings, and gave up six runs on eight hits while striking out four.  Mike O'Rourke ceded the final four runs on four hits in the seventh inning and James Farrington pitched a perfect bottom of the eighth.

Steve Simon allowed four runs on five hits before getting chased from the mound after getting just one out.  Steve Landell allowed two runs on three hits in one full inning, and Sean Leahy gave up three runs on three hits in 3.2 innings while striking out five.  Kyle Penney pitched two scoreless innings before allowing six runs, five earned, on eight hits in the eighth, pitching 2.1 total innings.  Tyler Albrecht surrendered a hit and a walk to the two batters he faced, and Ed Bethke shut down the Hawks through the final 1.2 innings, giving up two hits.

The Hawks return to action tomorrow morning when they host the Skyhawks of Stonehill College in an NE-10 doubleheader beginning at 11:00 am.