Manchester, N.H. (April 7) -- Saint Anselm picked up its first home win of the season on Wednesday afternoon with a 9-6 game one victory over visiting Merrimack before dropping the second contest by a narrow 5-4 final.

In game one, Merrimack got on the board in the top of the third as Monique Gosselin sent a one-out triple to left field and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Casey Conetta. Saint Anselm evened the score in the bottom of the fourth as Liz Trafton (Berwick, Maine) doubled to left with one out to drive in Jackie Giannino (Beverly, Mass.).

Merrimack answered back with three more runs in the top of the fifth off Saint Anselm starter Megan Lemire (Worcester, Mass.) and regained the lead at 4-3 heading to the bottom of the frame. Saint Anselm answered with its biggest home inning of the season as the Hawks put up six hits and six runs while sending 11 batters to the plate. Kayla McEachern (Stoneham, Mass.) and Trafton each had two-RBI hits in the inning as the Hawks jumped to a 7-4 advantage.

In the sixth, senior Moira McCabe (Brookline, N.H.) and McEachern both reached on singles to start the inning and came home later on a two-out, two-RBI single up the middle from Raylyn Glavin (Saugus, Mass.) to push to a 9-4 lead heading to the seventh. The Warriors scored twice in the seventh off of Lemire before Shannon Dalton (Concord, Mass.) came in for the one-out save to preserve the victory. Lemire improves to 3-3 with the win, while the save is the first of the season for Dalton. Kelli Jo Deardorff took the loss for the Warriors, allowing six earned runs on eight hits in two innings of work.

Saint Anselm jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings, scoring a single unearned run in the first and adding two in the second off a two-RBI single to center by Giannino. The Warriors took the lead in the top of the third with a five-run inning as the visitors scored five runs on three hits. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Gosselin, who doubled to left to tie the game with no outs. Gosselin would come home on the next batter as Conetta roped her second homer of the season to put Merrimack in front by a 5-3 score.

In the bottom of the third, senior Lizzy LeBrun (Rowley, Mass.) reached on a leadoff double to left center and came home on a two-out single to left from freshman Amanda Massad (Grafton, Mass.) to cut the lead down to 5-4 with four innings left. The Hawks got two runners into scoring position in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, but were unable to score as the Warriors picked up the split.

Dalton took the loss for the Hawks, falling to 3-4 after allowed five earned runs on six hits in four innings of work. Lemire threw three innings of one-hit relief to keep the Hawks within one run. Alex Gallant went six innings for Merrimack, scattering nine hits and allowing three earned runs to improve to 3-4 on the season.

With the split, Saint Anselm is now 9-11 overall and 2-4 in the Northeast-10, while Merrimack is 8-11 overall and 4-2 in the league. Saint Anselm returns to action on Thursday afternoon, traveling to Franklin Pierce for a 3 p.m. doubleheader that had been postponed from late March due to inclement weather.