WORCESTER, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team dropped both games of its season finale to Assumption University by 5-3 and 11-8 scores on Saturday.
The Hawks will see their season come to a close at 11-35 overall and 7-17 in Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division play. The Greyhounds will also see their season end as they close 2023 at 15-32 overall and 8-16 in conference play.
Sophomore
Ryan Scialabba (Cheshire, Conn.) led the Hawks with four hits, two of which were doubles. Junior
Zack Clough (Newbury, Mass.), senior
Mike Pierro (North Andover, Mass.), senior
Brady Doran (Seneca, S.C.), and junior
Richie Williams (Georgetown, Mass.) all recorded three hits each in the twinbill.
Williams led Saint Anselm with two runs batted in while Doran scored a team-high three runs.
Clough registered his 100th career hit in game two of the twinbill.
Senior
Taylor French (Goffstown, N.H.) and sophomore
Jared Reminder (Warwick, R.I.) drew the starts on the mound for the Hawks on Saturday, which marked the seventh and sixth of the season for each student-athlete respectively.
GAME ONE: Assumption 5, Saint Anselm 3 – 7 Innings
The Hawks would strike first in the top of the second inning, scoring a pair of runs in the frame. Scialabba opened the inning with a double and would reach third on a single from freshman
Ben Rose (Webster, N.H.). After a fly out, Clough would plate Scialabba on a single. Rose later scored as Williams reached on an error, which gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead.
The Greyhounds pushed across four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Connor Wironen reached on an error and would advance to second on a single by
Jack Barry. Wironen came around to score on a double from
Christopher Rabias but Barry would be thrown out at the plate on strong relay from Clough and seniors
Matt Collins (Beverly, Mass.) and
Mike Borrelli (Salisbury, Mass.).
After putting runners on second and third,
Jake Hamel singled to left to score two runs before a single up the middle from
Kevin Cox plated the fourth run of the inning for Assumption.
Saint Anselm loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with one out but a pair of strikeouts stranded the runners to get the Greyhounds out of the jam.
Assumption added to its lead in the bottom of the fifth as Rabias singled which scored
Owen Podolec who reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the frame.
Collins registered a one-out double to get the Hawks in business in the top of the sixth and would score on single through the left side from Williams which made the score 5-3.
Pierro brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the seventh with a one-out double but a line out and a fly out would close game one in favor of the Greyhounds.
GAME TWO: Assumption 11, Saint Anselm 8
A two-out single from Doran kept the top of the first inning alive for the Hawks. After stealing second, Borrelli registered a base hit up the middle to score Doran, marking the first run of the game.
The Hawks pushed across a second run in the top of the second. After Rose was hit by a pitch, sophomore
Daniel Scolaro (Quincy, Mass.) came on to pinch run and would reach third on a double from Clough. Collins registered a sacrifice fly to score Scolaro for the Hawks second run.
Assumption plated eight runs in the bottom of the third to take an 8-2 lead. After loading the bases, Hamel worked a walk to score one run before a second came through on a wild pitch. A two-run single from
Eric Preston pushed the score to 4-2 before a single from Cox, a hit by pitch from Barry, and a single from Wironen all brought home runs to cap the scoring for the Greyhounds in the inning.
The Greyhounds added three runs in the bottom of the fifth as Podolec singled to score a pair of runs before Barry score on a wild pitch.
Borrelli opened the sixth with a solo home run to left field, making the score 11-3. That is the ninth big fly of the season for the senior and the 25th of his collegiate career. Borrelli ranks third all-time in program history in career home runs.
After the Greyhounds loaded the bases with one out, junior
Hunter Harris (Altamont, N.Y.) recorded a pair of strikeouts looking to strand the three runners.
Doran led off the top of the eighth inning with a home run, which cut the Hawks deficit to seven at 11-4. Doran has recorded 23 home runs in a Hawks uniform which is tied for fifth most all-time.
After reaching third on a passed ball, Clough would score the fifth Saint Anselm run of the contest on a single from Williams. Williams later scored on a passed ball before back-to-back singles from Scialabba and Pierro scored one run each to push the score to its eventual final of 11-8.
