Baseball Falls to Mitchell College, 3-0 and 6-4

NEW LONDON, Conn.  – The Elms College baseball team lost a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) double-header to Mitchell College, 3-0 and 6-4 on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field in New London, Conn.  

With the losses, Elms moves to 10-11 overall, 3-3 in conference action, while Mitchell improves to 13-10 on the season, 9-2 in NECC play. The sides resume NECC action on Sunday, April 14 with a single, nine-inning game at MacKenzie Stadium in Holyoke Mass. at 12:00 p.m. followed by a single, seven-inning non-conference game at 2:00 p.m.

Mitchell 3, Elms 0

In game one, Mitchell starting pitcher Al Jordan Johnson (Lancaster, Calif.) twirled a seven-inning, complete-game one-hitter and struck out two batters to improve to 3-3 on the hill.

Blazers' counterpart senior left-hander John Russell (Springfield, Mass.) was solid through 5.2 innings scattering just two hits and striking out three batters in a pitcher's duel until Mitchell pushed across three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Eddie Lorah (East Lyme, Conn.) scored on an Elms error, followed by a two-run single to left field by Evan Peck (Shelton, Conn.).

Russell fell to 1-2 on the mound allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits and finished with four strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work, while freshman reliever Andrew Sadowski (Northampton, Mass.) forced a pop-out to the shortstop against the only batter he faced.

Elms' lone hit came in the top of the seventh inning – a single to right field by junior catcher Zachary Dreher (Naugatuck, Conn.).

Mitchell 6, Elms 4

In game two, Elms drew first blood with three runs in the top of the second inning as freshman shortstop Nolan Medeiros (Taunton, Mass.), who was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, and sophomore first baseman Geoffrey Frost (Ludlow, Mass.) who walked, came around to score when freshman third baseman Brian Langdon (Beacon Falls, Conn.) reached via a Mariners' miscue. A groundout by freshman right fielder Dan McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) pushed across the Blazers' third run of the frame to make it 3-0.

Mitchell narrowed the gap to one run in the bottom of the third when Dorsi belted an RBI triple to right center field and then scored when Kenneth Olszewski (Canterbury, Conn.) drove him home with an RBI groundout to set the score at 3-2.

After McCormack connected for an RBI base hit in the top of the fourth, the Mariners responded with three in the bottom of the stanza to take a 5-4 lead. Lorah cracked a run-scoring double, and two runs came in on an Elms error to highlight the frame for Mitchell.

Peck singled in the final run of the game in the top of the fifth to secure the 6-4 win for the Mariners.

Elms' freshman second baseman Aedin Wadja (Lebanon, Conn.) was 2 for 3 with two runs scored in the loss. Junior starter Curtis LeBeau (Auburn, Mass.) moved to 1-3 on the season after allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits in four innings of work on the mound with a strikeout. Sophomore Sean Sinnott (Granby, Conn.) scattered a pair of hits and allowed a run and struck out in two frames of relief.

Tyler Shamas (Westbrook, Conn.) secured his sixth win of the season in a complete-game effort. He allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits and struck out five batters.

Dorsi, Peck and Neftali Arroyo (New Haven, Conn.) each had two hits in the win.