Senior first baseman Anthony Pagano led Stonehill with a pair of hits tonight. |
Skyhawks will be on the road Wednesday in the first round of the NE-10 Tournament
MANCHESTER, N.H. (May 4, 2014) – Stonehill College wrapped up its regular season schedule with a 5-3 loss at Southern New Hampshire University, ranked 20th in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association DII Poll, this evening in Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division baseball action at Penmen Field. With the loss, the Skyhawks cannot finish higher than third in the Northeast Division, and they will be on the road for the first round of Wednesday's NE-10 Tournament.
Senior first baseman Anthony Pagano (Cranston, Rhode Island/Cranston West) led Stonehill offensively with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate, while classmate Dan Fratus (Plymouth, Massachusetts/Plymouth North) went 1-for-3 with a solo home run. Senior Billy Karalis (Pawtucket, Rhode Island/Bishop Feehan) and sophomore Chris Hoyt (Walpole, Massachusetts/Xaverian Brothers) added a hit each.
Senior Charlie DeFrancesco (Lincoln, Massachusetts/Lincoln-Sudbury) took the loss after going six innings and giving up five runs on five hits to go with six strikeouts and two walks. Sophomore Mike Krupczak (Springfield, Massachusetts/Cathedral) did a nice job in relief, as he did not allow a hit in two innings of work.
Senior outfielders Al Stanton (Sandwich, Massachusetts/Sandwich) and Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Massachusetts/East Bridgewater) paced the Southern New Hampshire offense, as Stanton went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI, and O'Brien was 2-for-4 with a steal and two runs scored. Classmate Riley Palmer (Goffstown, New Hampshire/Goffstown) contributed a two-run homer as well.
Freshman Tim Viehoff (Derry, New Hampshire/Pinkerton Academy) earned the win for the Penmen after giving up three runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out ten and walking three in seven innings of work. Classmate Benjamin Criscuolo (Branford, Connecticut/Xavier) pitched a perfect eighth and ninth, striking out four batters, to collect the save.
Senior shortstop Dan Fratus blasted his second home run of the season in Stonehill's 5-3 loss at No. 20 Southern New Hampshire tonight. |
Southern New Hampshire got to DeFrancesco, who was making just his second start of the season, for a pair of runs in the first inning. O'Brien led off with an infield single, and after the next two batters were retired, Palmer delivered a two-run homer to right field.
Stonehill came back with two runs of its own in the top of the third to tie the score at two. Sophomore Brian Hocking (Duxbury, Massachusetts/BC High) led off with a walk, and two batters later Hoyt reached on an error, putting runners at first and second. After the next batter flied out, junior Christian Baglini (Milford, Connecticut/Notre Dame) cut Stonehill's deficit in half with an RBI single down the left field line. Hoyt came in to score on a wild pitch on the next play, evening the score.
Southern New Hampshire got one run back in the bottom half of the third, as Stanton smacked an RBI double to left center, but Fratus' second home run of the season in the top of the fourth tied the contest for the second time.
The Penmen put together one more rally in the bottom of the fifth to score the game's final two runs. O'Brien again got it started, this time with a two-out single up the middle. After O'Brien stole second and freshman Manny Cruz (Wolcott, Connecticut/Wolcott) walked, Stanton picked up his second and third RBI of the night with a two-run double down the left field line.
Stonehill managed to get one runner on base in both the sixth and seventh innings, but Criscuolo retired all six of the batters that he faced in the eighth and ninth to earn the save.
Stonehill (28-18, 17-10 NE-10), which clinched an NE-10 Tournament berth with its 9-5 win over Merrimack College on Friday, will hit the road on Wednesday for first round action as either the third or fourth seed. If Bentley University defeats Franklin Pierce University tomorrow night, Stonehill will be back at top-seeded Southern New Hampshire (35-12, 20-7 NE-10) on Wednesday as the fourth seed. If the Falcons fall to the Ravens, however, Stonehill will head to Franklin Pierce as the third seed, with Southern New Hampshire hosting Bentley.
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