MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team dropped both games in its home opener with Assumption University, 9-2 and 7-3, on Wednesday afternoon at Sullivan Park.
The Hawks now drop to 4-4 on the young season, while Assumption earns its first two wins of the 2021 campaign. Saint Anselm will look toward its next opponent, Bentley, as the team hosts the Falcons on Saturday, Apr. 3 for a doubleheader, starting at high noon.
The Hawks came out firing in the first inning with two home runs before the Greyhounds' bats came alive, scoring nine runs and not allowing a Hawks run for the rest of the game to claim the nine-inning win.
Playing seven innings in game two, the Greyhounds pitching powered the contest with
Brendan Desautels firing 11 strikeouts. Junior
Dan Baker (Reading, Mass.) got the Hawks on the board in the sixth inning, hitting a three-run home run.
GAME ONE – Assumption 9, Saint Anselm 2 (Box Score)
Sophomore
Brady Doran (Stony Brook, N.Y.) and senior
Salvatore Pezzolla (East Greenbush, N.Y.) belted home runs over the fence in the opening inning, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead. Assumption's offense responded with four runs in the next two innings. After that point, the Greyhounds never looked back, adding five runs to close the opening game.
Sophomore
Mike Borrelli (Salisbury, Mass.) led the Hawks offense with two hits. Assumption's
Connor Wironen went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in.
Freshman
Matthew Michel (Haverhill, Mass.) earned the first start of his collegiate career, throwing four innings. Junior
David Hunter (Middleton, Mass.) came into relief, finishing the game out where he struck out four batters over four innings pitched, allowing no hits in the process.
Greyhounds'
Cole Chudoba earned the win on the mound, allowing six hits and fanned seven batters.
Patrick Harrington closed the contest out with three innings pitched, picking up the save for the Greyhounds while putting down seven batters via strikeouts.
GAME TWO – Assumption 7, Saint Anselm 3 (Box Score)
Both pitchers, sophomore
Dylan Bedder (New Providence, N.J.) and Desautels, were dialed in across opening two innings, fanning eight batters between the two to keep the game scoreless.
Jared Brescia opened the Greyhounds scoring, ripping a double through the left-field gap that brought home a teammate and put the Greyhounds up 1-0.
The Greyhounds would add to their offensive statistics in the fourth inning, totaling three runs and increasing the team's lead to 4-0. Desautels kept putting his opposing batters down via strikeouts, fanning 10 batters in the first five innings.
In the fifth inning,
Matt Schneider and
Jared Berardino of Assumption each drove in one run, recording RBI doubles to increase the Greyhounds lead to 6-0.
Baker ended the Greyhounds' chance for a shutout, hitting a three-run home run over the left-field wall. He trimmed the deficit to three runs, shrinking the Assumption lead to 6-3 with his fourth home run of the season.
The Greyhounds earned one more run in the sixth inning to secure the victory and earn the doubleheader sweep.
After Bedder came out of the game after the third inning, Head Coach
Jerod Edmondson '06 used four other Hawks student-athletes on the mound. Bedder finished the game with a team-high six strikeouts. Desautels finished the game in the sixth inning, giving up five hits and one walk while recording 11 strikeouts.
James McNamara closed the contest, throwing the final inning.
Pezzolla had a team-high two hits in the contest for the Hawks.
