MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team scored at least one run in six of the eight innings they batted in, grabbing an 11-6 Senior Day victory over Stonehill College on Sunday.
With the win, the Hawks improve to 20-22 on the season and 13-11 in Northeast-10 Conference play. The Skyhawks fall to 17-26 overall and 6-14 in league games. Saint Anselm concludes its regular season with a non-conference doubleheader against American International College on Friday, May 6. Those games are scheduled for 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. start times.
Saint Anselm honored its senior class, which consisted of 13 student-athletes, prior to the start of the contest.
The 2022 squad becomes just the sixth team in program history to reach 20 wins in a single season. The 2012 team was the last squad to hit at least 20 wins in a single season. Saint Anselm's 13 conference wins are the most since 2012 as well.
Graduate student Salvatore Pezzolla (East Greenbush, N.Y.), seniors Matt Collins (Beverly, Mass.) and Kyle Maurice (Exeter, N.H.), junior Brady Doran (Greenville, S.C.), and freshman Danny Kent (Hanson, Mass.) posted two hits each for the Hawks, who as a team, grinded out 12 hits in the win. Pezzolla and Doran drove in three runs each while Collins and senior Jack Dunklee (Wilbraham, Mass.) drove in a run each.
Sophomore Will Hunter (Middleton, Mass.) moves to 3-0 after fanning seven Skyhawks in six innings of work. The sophomore allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and three walks. Junior John Donovan (Lowell, Mass.) and senior David Hunter (Middleton, Mass.) came on in relief of the Hawks' starter.
Saint Anselm jumped on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first inning. Collins was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame before reaching second on a groundout and quickly scoring on a double by Pezzolla to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead through one.
Trey Ciulla Hall singled for the first Skyhawks hit of the afternoon in the top of second. He would be stranded at third as Will Hunter struck out two batters to close the inning.
Stonehill tied the score in the third inning as Noah Lucier singled through the left side to plate Chris Roberti who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning. Matt Farragher singled to load the bases but a pop out and a fly out got the Hawks out of the jam.
The Hawks regained their lead in the bottom of the fourth as Collins reached on fielder's choice and advanced to second on a passed ball. Collins scored on a single by Doran to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead. Doran would steal third in the next at-bat and score on a throwing error on the play, extending the lead to 3-1.
Saint Anselm scored another three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Borrelli led off the inning by reaching on an error. After a pair of outs, Kent singled to left field and Dunklee would reach on an error, bringing home Borrelli. Collins was hit by pitch for the second time in the game to load the bases before Doran doubled down the right field line to plate two runs and extend the lead to 6-1.
Stonehill loaded the bases in the fifth inning on an error and a pair of walks. Blaine Lidsky singled to left field to score one run but another pair of strikeouts by Will Hunter got Saint Anselm out of the bases loaded chance.
Maurice would come across to score in the bottom of the fifth inning on a wild pitch, giving the Hawks a 7-2 lead.
The Hawks added to their advantage in the sixth inning, all with two outs. Collins got the Hawks in business as he hustled down the first base line to leg out an infield single. He would steal second before Doran walked. Saint Anselm got both runners into scoring position with a double steal, setting up Pezzolla would brought home both runs with a single to right field.
Lucier singled to lead off the seventh inning and reached second on a wild pitch. Farragher doubled down the right field line to score Lucier before scoring himself on a double play which brought the contest to 9-4.
With the bases loaded in the Hawks half of the seventh, Dunklee fouled out down the right field line but it was deep enough to score senior Mike Pierro (North Andover, Mass.) as Dunklee registered the sacrifice fly. Collins singled in the next at-bat to score sophomore Nolan Elmore (Brentwood, N.H.) and extend the lead to 11-4.
Stonehill pushed across two runs in the eighth inning as Sam Kidder registered a RBI groundout, plating Mike Swanholm who reached on an error. A bases loaded walk for Lidsky scored another run in the inning, which made the score 11-6. David Hunter would get a fly out to end the bases loaded chance in the eighth inning.
Swanholm singled in the ninth and reached second on a passed ball but two strikeouts, one looking and one swinging, would cap the Senior Day victory.
