MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Timothy Cooney (E. Bridgewater, Mass.) allowed three runs over six innings, but the Saint Anselm College baseball was knocked out of the Northeast-10 Championship with a 4-1 loss to Le Moyne College on Saturday afternoon at Sullivan Park.
The Hawks, who dropped a 12-8 decision to Franklin Pierce University earlier in the day, fall to 28-23-2 on the year. This is the furthest into the season the Hawks had ever made it as they won a pair of tournament games. The Dolphins bounced back from a 14-8 loss to the Hawks on Saturday to improve to 38-13-1 and earn a spot in Sunday's final against Franklin Pierce.
Le Moyne jumped on the board in the second when Ryan Mahoney led off with a single to center. After Pat Wiese flied out to center, Mahoney stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Paul Speicher's single to right.
The Dolphins added another in the third. Vincent Redmond singled to right and then was erased on a fielder's choice ground out from Brett Botsford, who then stole second and third. After Zack Wiley struck out looking, Matt Marra hit a dribbler up the third base line that scored Botsford, as Cooney fielded the ball, but had no play.
Saint Anselm sliced its deficit in half in the fourth when junior Richie Manzi (Plymouth, N.H.) led off by singling through the left side and then moved to second when junior Robert Kelly (Aurora, Colo.) drew a walk, advanced to third when senior Daniel DeCoste (Chelmsford, Mass.) flied to right and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-1.
Le Moyne went ahead 3-1 in the sixth when Marra doubled down the left field line, moved to third on Mahoney's fly out to center and then scored when Pat Wiese singled up the middle.
The Hawks threatened in the bottom half of the inning. Manzi started it by working an eight-pitch walk, moving to second on a failed pickoff attempt and then advancing to third when Kelly grounded out to second. After DeCoste walked and sophomore Dan Lagasse (Londonderry, N.H.) flied to center, freshman Mike Hayden (Cranston, R.I.) walked to load the bases. Erik Lambe relieved starter Casey Cannon and threw one pitch to get out of the inning. Sophomore Nate Gonya (Wolfeboro, N.H.) hit an absolute rocket to right, but Wiley made a leaping catch to end it.
The Dolphins added a run in the seventh when Botsford singled, stole second and scored on Wiley's base hit to right-center. Le Moyne then retired nine of the final 10 batters it faced to seal the win.
Cooney (3-2) went six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits, while striking out one and not walking a batter. Freshman David Kent (N. Falmouth, Mass.) worked the final three innings and gave up a run on two hits, while striking out four and not walking a batter. Kent retired the last eight batters he faced.
Cannon (9-0) allowed a run on four hits, walking five and striking out four over 5.2 innings. Erik Lambe tossed 2.1 scoreless innings, striking out two and walking one. Kevin Carroll pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save.
Manzi was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and a run scored. Junior Andrew Chandler (Westford, Mass.) went 2-for-3 and Kelly was 1-for-3.
The Hawks will now wait to see if they receive an at-large bid to the NCAA East Regional. The selection show will be held Sunday, May 13 at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com.
