Penzone Pitches Skyhawks Past Warriors, 4-3

Penzone Pitches Skyhawks Past Warriors, 4-2

Mitch Davis was 2-for-5 with a run scored in the 4-3 win over Merrimack.

Boxscore

Easton, Mass. - Freshman hurler Shane Penzone (Hudson, Mass.) went 8.2 innings, allowing just two earned runs and Javier Guzman (San Juan, P.R.) had two doubles and an RBI as Stonehill snapped a short two-game losing streak, knocking off Merrimack 4-3 on Monday afternoon at Lou Gorman Field.

The win for the Skyhawks improves their overall record to 19-17 and more importantly, gives Stonehill a full game lead over idle Bentley in the race for the sixth and final spot in the upcoming Northeast-10 Championship Tournament.

Despite giving up a single run in the first and another in the third, Penzone stayed in control most of the game, scattering seven hits, walking four and striking out four on 135 pitches.

Down 1-0 after the top half of the first, Stonehill scored two runs of their own on an RBI double to left by Guzman and a RBI single by Dave Fradette (Goffstown, N.H.).

The Warriors evened the score when they touched Penzone for a run in the third on a run-scoring single from Mike Chandler.

Stonehill answered right back to take the lead when Shane Franz (Cazenovia, N.Y.) doubled to left center and came around to score on a single to center by Matt Skane (Mashpee, Mass.).

The game remained that way until the seventh when a Franz sacrifice fly brought home Guzman who led off the inning with a walk.

Penzone seemed primed to toss his first complete game and collect his first career win all at the same time when he recorded the first two outs of the ninth on routine groundouts to second. However, Merrimack, which knocked off Stonehill earlier in the year, 2-0, scored a run on an error to make it 4-3, and then put runners on first and third.

Mat Lindenmayer (Penfield, N.Y.), normally a starter, entered the game and threw three pitches before getting an easy come-backer from Ryan Shepard to end the game and earn his second save of the season.

Josh Sohn (1-6) took the loss for the Warriors, going seven innings and giving up 10 hits and four earned runs.

Mitch Davis (Bow, N.H.), Guzman and Nate Weber (Hanson, Mass.) all had two hits for Stonehill, while Jeff Bercume led the Merrimack attack with three of their seven hits.

The Skyhawks are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to St. Michael's for a doubleheader with the Purple Knights.