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| Junior Matt Skane was 2-4 in the second game of the afternoon for Stonehill |
Skyhawks Sweep Hawks To Finish The Season
Boxscore Game 1 / Boxscore Game 2
Easton, Mass. - The Skyhawks had it all working on Sunday at Lou Gorman field, coming back to win the first game 8-7 and in the second game each starter recorded a hit on their way to a 9-1 victory to close out their season.
With the pair of victories Stonehill finished their season with a 24-22 overall records and 14-16 mark in conference play. Senior Andy Hillier (Hanover, Mass.) had the best pitching performance of the day, earning the win in the second game by going five innings and giving up just one run on four hit with two strikeouts.
Helping the Skyhawks to 17 runs on the afternoon was junior Mitch Davis (Bow, N.H.) who finished with three hits, three RBI and three runs scored. Senior Nate Weber (Hanson, Mass.) and junior Ryan Healey (Lynn, Mass.) each had three hits in the second game of the afternoon.
In game one, the Hawks jumped on southpaw Justin Perry (Feeding Hills, Mass.) early, scoring three times on four hits in the first inning.
Stonehill got on the board in the bottom of the second as Shane Franz (Cazenovia, N.Y.) reached and moved to second on a throwing error by the third baseman. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Tom Marino (Garden City, N.Y.) grounder to the second baseman.
An inning later the Skyhawks cut the lead to 3-2 as Davis reached on an error and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Weber.
In the top of the fourth, St. Anselm added a run to extend their lead to 4-2 and tacked on two more in the sixth for the 6-2 advantage.
Following a Franz groundout to open the bottom seventh, freshman Michael White (Lisbon, N.H.) singled. The Skyhawks followed up with four consecutive hits, highlighted by a double by Kyle Shepard (Boxford, Mass.) to pull within one at 6-5.
With two outs, Weber started to steal second with pitcher Brett Barlett in the stretch, putting himself in a rundown and allowing Davis to steal home, evening the game up at six apiece.
Stonehill took the lead an inning later, loading the bases with no outs and scoring twice, with the second run coming on a sacrifice fly by Davis for the 8-6 lead. Dan Corrigan (Portsmouth, R.I.) came in the ninth, giving up a solo homer but earning the save by retiring three of the four batters he faced.
In game two, the Skyhawks wasted little time in giving Hillier some run support, scoring a run in the first and exploding for six more in the bottom of the third.
In the third, freshman Brett Hereth (Burrillville, R.I.) led off the inning with a triple to right center and Davis doubled to score him. Following a pop to the shortstop, Stonehill had six straight players reach base safely, highlighted by a triple from Healey, allowing the Skyhawks to end the inning with a 7-0 lead.
Hillier began to struggle in the fifth giving up two singles and loading the bases with two out before walking home his first run of the afternoon. He got out of the inning without anymore trouble.
Bruno then tripled to lead off the fifth and came around to score, pushing the lead to 8-0. An inning later Hereth walked to open the inning and scored on a two out bases loaded walk for the 9-1 advantage.
Relievers Shane Penzone (Hudson, Mass.) and Alex McCormick (Weymouth, Mass.) pitched the final four innings, giving up just three hits to give Hillier his eighth career victory.
Weber's 3-5 performance in the second game gave him 135 hits in his career, to go along with 71 RBI.