Baseball Drops Conference Opener to Mitchell, 3-1

Box Score

HOLYOKE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore third baseman Andrew Kravontka’s (Manchester, Conn.) sixth inning sacrifice fly pulled Elms College within two runs, but a complete game one-run outing by Andrew Langlais (Ledyard, Conn.) propelled the Mariners to a 3-1 win in Thursday night’s New England College Conference (NECC) opener at MacKenzie Field.

With the loss Elms falls to 4-10 on the season, 0-1 in NECC action. Mitchell improves to 6-5 overall, 1-0 in league play.

Elms’ junior pitcher Matt Wood (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and Langlais each started the game by putting up five scoreless innings. Mitchell’s Jeffrey Perillo (Newington, Conn.) hit a two-out double to start a sixth inning rally for the Mariners.  Perillo then came full circle on Ethan Graynor’s (Leonia, N.J.) RBI single giving Mitchell a 1-0 lead.  John McGarry (Waterford, Conn.) capped off the three-run sixth inning by hitting a two-run home run over the right field wall.

The Blazers opened their half of the inning with a triple off the bat of freshman center fielder Stephen Fisher (West Boylston, Mass.). Fisher then raced home on Kravontka’s RBI sacrifice fly to cut the Mariners lead to 3-1.  Senior first baseman Mike Andrews (Greenfield, Mass.) reached second base on a two-out error, but Elms failed to drive in the run. Following the error, Langlais retired 10 of the final 11 batters to earn the complete game victory.

Langlais tossed seven strikeouts in the complete-game effort to record his second win of the season and move to 2-2 on the season.

Wood hurled the first seven innings, fanning four batters in the loss. He moves to 2-2 on the year. Junior lefty Nick Cordeiro (Berkley, Mass.) entered in relief and pitched two scoreless innings.

With one out in the top of the third inning Connor Rochefort (Dayville, Conn.) hit a line drive to right field that appeared to be falling in for a hit before Elms junior right fielder Albert Betances (Haverhill, Mass.) made a diving catch to keep the Mariners off the base paths.

Elms received offensive support from Fisher and junior catcher Carmino Bonavita (Springfield, Mass.) who each had a pair of hits in the losing effort.

Mitchell received a large contribution from Perillo who went 3 for 4 at the plate, with a run scored, while McGarry added two hits and two RBI in the winning effort. The Mariners also received multi-hit games from Langlais and Graynor.

The Blazers return to conference action on Saturday when they travel to New London, Conn. to complete their three game series with the Mariners. Game one is set for a 12:00 p.m. start, with game two slated for 3:00 p.m.  Both games will be seven innings.