MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team capped off its regular season home finale with a wild 16-14 win over Saint Michael's in Northeast-10 Confernce (NE10) action on Tuesday. In a high-scoring affair that featured 44 combined hits and 30 total runs, the Hawks jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and answered every push from the Purple Knights. Saint Anselm ultimately held on for the win and, in the process, set a new single-game program record with 24 hits.
UP NEXT:
- Saint Anselm heads to Worcester, Mass. this weekend to take on Assumption for its final games of the regular season. The three-game series begins with a single nine-inning game on Friday, May 2nd at 3:00 p.m. before a doubleheader follows on Sunday, May 4th.
Score: Saint Anselm 16, Saint Michael's 14
Win: Knudsen (5-4) |
Loss: Jones (2-5)
Records: Saint Anselm (12-30, 6-16 NE10), Saint Michael's (8-26, 7-15 NE10)
Location: Manchester, N.H. (Sullivan Park)
Date: Tuesday, April 29th, 2025
Attendance: 134
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Saint Anselm struck early with three runs in the first inning. Sophomore Brendan Gonzalez (Mechanicville, N.Y.) got things started with an RBI single that scored sophomore Mavrick Bourdeau (Billerica, Mass.). Freshman Peter Fischer (Marshfield, Mass.) followed later in the frame with a two-run single that drove in Gonzalez and freshman George Slauson (Plymouth, Mass.) to make it 3-0.
- The Hawks added another run in the third as senior Brenden Harris (Altamont, N.Y.) doubled off the fence in left-center field to bring home Slauson and extend the lead to 4-0.
- The bats stayed hot in the fourth. Gonzalez once again drove in Bourdeau with a single, and Harris followed with another RBI knock of his own that scored freshman Jackson Powers (Woburn, Mass.), making it a 6-0 game.
- Saint Michael's finally broke through in the top half of the fifth, cutting the deficit in half. Max Kolifrath drove in a run with a base hit and Evan Balian followed with a two-run single that made it 6-3.
- Saint Anselm responded in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman Luke Douglas (Bellingham, Mass.) touched home after a bases-loaded walk drawn by Gonzalez. Powers then scored from third on a balk to stretch the lead to 8-3.
- The Purple Knights struck again in the top of the seventh. Richard Gilboy singled in a run, and Colin Kinsella added a two-run homer to cut the deficit to 8-6.
- The Hawks answered with a monster bottom half of the inning, scoring six runs with two outs on eight straight hits. Douglas and Bourdeau hit back-to-back RBI singles, followed by a two-run home run from Powers. Slauson capped the rally with a two-run blast into the woods in right-center, giving the Hawks a commanding 14-6 lead.
- Saint Michael's fought back once more in the eighth inning as Balian smacked a grand slam to center field, making it a 14-10 game.
- In the bottom of the eighth, sophomore Austin Brune (Billerica, Mass.) led off with a single for the Hawks and then scored as junior Shea Howrigan (Enosburg Falls, V.T.) joined the home run party, launching a shot over the left field fence and making it 16-10.
- The Purple Knights kept fighting in the ninth. Sam Cavossa drove in a run with a single, and Balian hit his second home run of the day – a three-run shot – to trim the Hawks' lead down to just two runs.
- The comeback ended there for Saint Michael's as Saint Anselm got the final outs of the game and held on for the high-scoring win in the final meeting of the season between these two teams.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Saint Anselm scored 16 runs, marking the sixth time this season that they have scored 10 or more runs in a game.
- The Hawks racked up 24 hits in the win, including six for extra bases, while also drawing five walks and committing just one error in the field. Every player in the lineup recorded at least one hit, with seven players collecting multiple hits.
- The 24 hits by Saint Anselm is a new single-game program record, breaking the previous mark of 23 set by the 2002 team in a game against Merrimack.
- Saint Michael's also brought the offense, finishing with 14 runs on 20 hits (five for extra bases) and two walks, while playing error-free defensively.
- Bourdeau led the Hawks with a career-high five hits, tying the single-game program record and becoming the 10th player in team history to do so. He also scored three runs to raise his season total to a team-best 41 on the year, a figure that ranks seventh in the NE10.
- Powers posted a career-best four hits for Saint Anselm, driving in two runs and scoring three times. He now holds a .356 batting average, the fifth-highest in the conference
- Gonzalez collected three hits and three RBIs as well while scoring twice. He leads the team with 51 hits this season, placing him eighth in the NE10.
- Slauson added two hits, two RBIs, two walks, and three runs scored. He continues to lead the team in multiple offensive categories: walks (30), slugging percentage (.591), RBIs (35), total bases (78), and home runs (8).
- Harris recorded a career-high three hits and drove in two runs, and Fischer went 3-for-4 with two RBIs – his fifth three-hit game of the season. He is batting .391 in 69 at-bats this year.
- Freshman Gabe Knudsen (Hanover, Mass.) secured the start and the win for Saint Anselm. He pitched five innings, allowed three earned runs, and struck out nine hitters, the most in a single game by a Hawks pitcher this season.
- This marked the 65th all-time meeting between Saint Michael's and Saint Anselm, with the Hawks improving to 43-22 in the series. The win was the third straight for Saint Anselm in the matchup.
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