Baseball Sweeps by Southern Vermont College, 2-1 and 4-1

HOLYOKE, Mass. – Elms College freshman second baseman Aedin Wadja (Lebanon, Conn.) delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning of game one, and junior pitcher Derek Leal (Charlton, Mass.) twirled a complete game with seven strikeouts in game two to help lift the Blazers to 2-1 and 4-1 victories over Southern Vermont College in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) baseball action on Saturday afternoon at MacKenzie Stadium in Holyoke, Mass.

With the wins, Elms improves to 16-14 overall, 8-5 in NECC action, while Southern Vermont moves to 11-18 overall, 5-8 in league play.

Elms 2, Southern Vermont 1

In game one, the sides played three scoreless innings of baseball before Elms took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when sophomore right fielder Brady Forrest (Hampden, Mass.) singled through the left side, senior center fielder Stephen Fisher (West Boylston, Mass.) drew a walk and then the duo executed a double-steal to give the Blazers two runners in scoring position. A wild pitch allowed Forrest to come home with the game's first run. The Mountaineers then used a fielder's choice and a groundout to keep the score set at 1-0 in favor of Elms.

Southern Vermont tied the game in the top of the fifth when Sal Sciara (Massapequa, N.Y.) connected for a one-out base hit, advanced to second when Dave Northup (Richmond, R.I.) reached on an error and then advanced to third when Quinten Scott (Ashaway, R.I.) earned a walk to load the bases. A second walk in the frame drawn by Chris Nicastro (Cranford, N.J.) allowed Sciara to cross the plate with the tying run.

With the score even at 1-1 in the top of the sixth, Elms' sophomore righty Sean Sinnott (Granby, Conn.) entered in relief of freshman starter Thomas Weldon (Springfield, Mass.) and retired the side in order – all through groundouts.

Northup doubled down the left field line in the top of the seventh, but a strikeout by Sinnott kept the go-ahead run from scoring.

In the bottom of the seventh, junior Alex King (Lebanon, Conn.) led off with a double to left center, then advanced to third on an error and scored on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Wadja to give Elms a 2-1 win.

Weldon pitched 5.0 innings in the no-decision and allowed one unearned run on two hits and struck out two, while Sinnott improved to 4-2 on the hill with 2.0 frames of relief work allowing just one hit while issuing two strikeouts.

Mountaineers' pitcher Zach Milton (Fort Myers, Fla.) suffered the complete-game loss to fall to 1-2 on the season, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with four strikeouts in 6.2 innings.

Elms 4, Southern Vermont 1

In the nightcap, Elms took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when freshman shortstop Nolan Medeiros (Taunton, Mass.) drove in freshman left fielder Dan McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) with an RBI single.

In the bottom of the third, Medeiros again drove in McCormack this time with a single through the left side of the infield. Medeiros then came full circle when junior third baseman Sam Farnsworth (Westfield, Mass.) doubled to center field but was thrown out trying to advance to third on the relay home to keep the game at 3-0.

Southern Vermont scored in the top of the sixth when RJ Pingitore (Amsterdam, N.Y.) and Corey Armstrong (Bennington, Vt.) connected for singles to give the Mountaineers two on with two out, and Pingitore then scored on a base knock to right field by Roland Hernandez (Pico Rivera, Calif.) to pull them to within two at 3-1. Leal then forced a fly out to end the frame.

Elms put one more across in the bottom of the sixth when junior catcher Zachary Dreher (Naugatuck, Conn.) doubled down the left field line and then scored when Fisher singled him in to set the final score at 4-1.

Medeiros was 2 for 3 with a run scored and two driven in to lead Elms at the dish, while Pingitore and Armstrong had two hits each for the Mountaineers.

Leal allowed one run on six hits to move to 2-3 on the hill. He fanned seven batters in 7.0 innings of work. Erik Johansen (Rosendale, N.Y.) suffered the loss to move to 2-3 on the season. He allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and struck out four in 6.0 stanzas of action.

The sides complete the series on Sunday, April 21 at 12:00 p.m. in Bennington, Vt.