CHESTER, N.Y. – Junior Robert Kelly (Aurora, Colo.) went 3-for-5 with two home runs and matched his career high with six RBI to lead the Saint Anselm College baseball team to an 8-6 victory in 10 innings against Dominican (N.Y.) College on Sunday afternoon at the Rock Sports Park.
The Hawks improve to 7-9, while the Chargers drop to 1-7.
Knotted at six in the top of the 10th inning, the Hawks went ahead by a run when junior Rett Ostafin (Avon, Conn.) led off with a double to right, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by classmate Richie Manzi (Plymouth, N.H.) and then scored on a wild pitch. Sophomore Dan Lagasse (Londonderry, N.H.) followed with a walk and then came around on a double to the gap in left-center by Kelly to make it 8-6.
Junior James Farrington (W. Milford, N.J.), who nailed down the final out of the ninth, pitched a 1-2-3 10th to earn his first win of the season.
Kelly staked the Hawks to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when he hit a two-run homer to right-center that scored senior Jeffrey Criscuolo (Durham, Conn.), who led off the game with a bunt single.
Dominican sliced its deficit in half in the bottom of the first when Andrew Camardella hit a two-out single down the left field line that scored Tony Blake, who doubled down the right field line one batter earlier. Camardella was thrown out to end the inning trying to stretch his hit to a double.
The Hawks got the run back in the top of the second when Criscuolo walked and later scored to make it 3-1 when Kelly reached on an error.
The Chargers pulled within 3-2 in the fourth when Camardella singled to center to score Blake, who doubled to right to lead off the inning.
Senior Daniel DeCoste (Chelmsford, Mass.) gave Saint Anselm a 4-2 lead in the fifth when he led off the inning with a home run to left. In the sixth, Manzi walked and then stole second after back-to-back strikeouts. Kelly came through once more, however, with the big two-out blow as he hit a two-run shot that made it 6-2.
Dominican then tied the game with a four-spot in the seventh. Xavier Bonilla's two-out RBI single up the middle made it 6-3 before Blake swatted a three-run jack to knot the game.
Kelly pitched the first 6.2 innings and gave up six runs on 10 hits, while striking out four and not walking a batter. Classmate William O'Connor (Worcester, Mass.) worked two shutout innings, allowing a hit and walk, while striking out a batter. Farrington (1-1) tossed 1.1 perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts.
DeCoste went 2-for-5 with a home run, RBI and run scored, while Criscuolo was also 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored.
The Hawks return to action Thursday, March 22 at 3:30 p.m. when they head across town to battle Southern New Hampshire University.
