Saint Anselm College

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team took game one of Sunday's Northeast 10 Conference doubleheader against No. 16 Bentley University to split the weekend series against the Falcons.

Saint Anselm 12 (20-18, 18-12 NE10), Bentley 4 (31-13, 23-8 NE10) – 7 inn.

• Sophomore Mavrick Bourdeau went 3-for-4 with one double as he scored three runs and drove in a pair of runs.
• Sophomore Jackson Powers went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a walk. He notched three runs and one RBI.
• Freshman Jake Smith went 3-for-4 with one run scored.
• Sophomore George Slauson had a 2-for-3 showing, walking once while driving in one run and scoring once.
• Sophomore Xavier Gonzalez posted a 2-for-4 day, notching a pair of homers to drive in a team-high six RBI.
• Sophomore Peter Fischer went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI.
• Junior Quinn MacDonald registered his first win of the campaign, throwing 4.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits and three walks while striking out one Falcon.

How it Happened

The Hawks struck first in the opening frame, as Fischer delivered a two-run single to cap a four-hit inning and give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

After adding another run in the third on an RBI fielder's choice from Gonzalez, Saint Anselm broke the game open in the fourth inning. The Hawks sent 11 batters to the plate and erupted for seven runs on eight hits, highlighted by Gonzalez's grand slam to left that pushed the advantage to 10-0.

Bentley showed signs of life in the later innings, scoring once in the fifth on an RBI single by Nick Pappas and adding another in the sixth on Jared Berardino's base hit.

The Falcons tacked on two more in the seventh, aided by an error, but the deficit proved too large to overcome.

Saint Anselm continued to add on with a run in both the fifth and sixth innings, including Gonzalez's second home run of the game, a solo shot to left-center.

Saint Anselm 13 (20-19, 18-13 NE10), Bentley 17 (32-13, 24-8 NE10) – 12 inn.

• Slauson went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers and five RBI, as well as one walk and a sacrifice fly.
• Sophomore Coleson Kaluza went 3-for-7 with a home run. He notched a pair of RBI and runs.
• Powers and junior Austin Brune each registered doubles while Gonzalez recorded a triple and a homer.
• Bourdeau swiped two bags while Kaluza, Slauson, and Brune each stole one base.

How it Happened

Bentley struck first with two runs over in opening inning, but Saint Anselm answered quickly in the bottom half to keep it a one-run game. Bentley increased its lead to two runs again in the second before the Hawks added another in the bottom of the third to keep things tight.

The Hawks tied the game multiple times, including a steady push through the middle innings where both offenses began to heat up. Saint Anselm built momentum with a three-run fifth and continued to respond to Bentley rallies, eventually knotting the game at 12-12 after a high-scoring seventh and eighth inning stretch that featured a combined 12 runs between the teams.

After a scoreless ninth and tenth inning, the teams again exchanged runs in the 11th to keep the deadlock intact, including a deep fly from Slauson in the bottom of the inning, extending the game to the 12th.

The decisive moment came in the top of the 12th, when Bentley loaded the bases and Jared Berardino launched a go-ahead three-run home run, part of a four-run inning that finally broke the game open.

Saint Anselm was unable to answer in the bottom half, sealing a marathon 17-13 win for Bentley in the second game of the doubleheader.

Overall, the contest featured 30 combined runs and 40 hits, but Bentley's late-inning power ultimately proved to be the difference.

Up Next

The Hawks will host Pace University (21-21, 16-15 NE10) in a game rescheduled from April 2 on Tuesday, April 28 at 3 p.m. at Sullivan Park.