Baseball Downs Newbury College, 10-5 to Earn Series Sweep

HOLYOKE, Mass. – Elms College freshman shortstop Nolan Medeiros (Taunton, Mass.) was 3 for 4 with two runs scored at the plate and freshman pitcher Thomas Weldon (Springfield, Mass.) fired three strikeouts and collected his third win of the season on the hill to help the Blazers post a 10-5 victory over Newbury College in Sunday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) baseball game at MacKenzie Stadium.

With the win, Elms has now won three straight games and improves to 8-9 overall, 3-1 in NECC action. Newbury moves to 6-16 on the season, 2-9 in league play.

After Elms plated single runs in the bottom of the first and second innings, Newbury answered with four in the top of the third frame as Michael Dwyer (Hamden, Conn.) reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and then went to third when the Nighthawks loaded the bases with back-to-back walks issued to Ryan Zahornasky (Shelton, Conn.) and Justin MacCutcheon (Woburn, Mass.). Consecutive doubles by Mack Flynn (Windham, N.H.) and Ryan Sinclair (Portsmouth, R.I.) plated three runs and an RBI single by Patrick Argentina (Millerton, N.Y.) allowed Newbury to take a 4-2 lead before Weldon fired a strikeout end the inning.

The Blazers answered with three in the bottom of the third and pushed across three more in the bottom of the fourth to stake an 8-4 advantage. In the third, junior catcher Zachary Dreher (Naugatuck, Conn.) drove in junior left fielder Alex King (Lebanon, Conn.) with a base hit to left field and Dreher later scored on an RBI double down the left field like by sophomore first baseman Geoffrey Frost (Ludlow, Mass.). Medeiros, who singled to left field earlier in the stanza, scored when freshman second baseman Aedin Wadja (Lebanon, Conn.) reached on a Nighthawks' miscue to plate the Blazers' go-ahead run.

In the fourth, senior center fielder Stephen Fisher (West Boylston, Mass.) scored on a wild pitch, Dreher doubled in King who got on with a walk, and Medeiros plated Dreher with a two-out single to left field to extend Elms' lead to 8-4.

Weldon and Newbury relief pitcher Lyndon Brundige (Rockland, Mass.) both worked quickly through the fifth, sixth and seventh innings before Elms added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on the strength of a two-run single to left field by King to extend the lead to 10-4.

The Nighthawks got a run in the top of the ninth when Michael Perillo (Mansfield, Mass.) walked, raced to third on a double by Zahornasky and then scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by MacCutcheon, but that's as close as Newbury would get as Elms' sophomore reliever Sean Sinnott (Granby, Conn.) who entered in the eighth inning, fired his third punch-out to seal the win for the Blazers.

Weldon improved to 3-1 on the season after tossing 7.1 innings allowing four runs on six hits to go along with three strikeouts. Newbury starter Daniel Lumb (Stoneham, Mass.) allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits and struck out four and suffered the loss to move to 2-3 overall.

King and Dreher each had two hits and two RBI for Elms at the dish, junior designated hitter Sam Farnsworth (Westfield, Mass.) was 2 for 4 with an RBI, and freshman right fielder Dan McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) was 2 for 4 with a run scored.

Sinnott allowed just one run on one hit in 1.2 innings of relief and struck out three batters.

Sinclair drove in two runners and Argentina was 2 for 4 with an RBI to highlight Newbury's offensive efforts, while Zahornsky and MacCutcheon each drew two free passes against Elms pitching.

Brundige allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits in 4.1 innings of relief work on the hill in the no decision for the Nighthawks.

Elms is back in action on Tuesday, April 9 when it travels to Nichols College for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference game.