Baseball Splits Senior Day Doubleheader with Dean

HOLYOKE, MA - The Elms College Baseball team hosted the Dean College Bulldogs on Monday afternoon, in a conference doubleheader for their annual Senior Day at Mackenzie Stadium.

BASICS
Game 1
Score: Elms College 6 | Dean College 2
Record: Blazers 15-16, 5-6 (GNAC) | Bulldogs 8-21, 1-12 (GNAC)

Game 2
Score: Elms College 4 | Dean College 7
Record: Blazers 15-17, 6-7 (GNAC) | Bulldogs 9-21, 2-12 (GNAC)

PRIOR TO THE GAME
The Elms College Baseball team honored their eight seniors; Vinny Buono (Springfield, MA), AJ Cook (Mendon, MA), Seamus Higgins (Rutland, MA), Justin Miller (Prospect, CT), CJ Moriarty (Glastonbury, CT), Camden Murphy (Berlin, CT), Desmond Nigol-Mason (West Hartford, CT), and Kyle Sebastyanski (Auburn, MA), and their loved ones in between Games 1 and 2.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1
The Blazers would be the first to get on the board, courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Moriarty in the first inning. After that, Elms went cold on the offensive end, but the Blazers defense stepped up in a big way behind the pitching of Sebastyanski, who pitched seven innings, only giving up two runs. In the fourth inning, Cook recorded another sacrifice fly for the Blazers to give them a two run lead over Dean. Elms followed this up in the sixth inning by scoring three more runs. Graduate student Josh Pasini (Enfield, CT) recorded a sac fly which was followed by a graduate student Tyler Galenski (Wilbraham, MA), RBI single. Dean changed pitchers, trying to combat the Elms batters, but Miller would rip a one run-single down the line, giving the Blazers a 5-0 lead. Dean did score two runs in the ensuing inning, but a Galenski RBI-single in the bottom of the eighth inning cemented a Blazers 6-2 win.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Sebastyanski: 7.0 innings pitched and three strikeouts.

• Galenski: three hits, two runs batted in.

• Moriarty: two hits, one run batted in.

• Pasini: one hit, one run batted in, and two walks.

• Cook: one hit, one run batted in, and a walk.

Game 2
The Blazers found themselves down 1-0 early, but a big couple of innings got them back in the game. Cook recorded a two run-single in the second inning to put the Blazers up by one run which was followed in the next inning by sophomore Chase Prestia (Newington, CT), who recorded a one run-single. Elms continued to play strong on the offensive and defensive ends, limiting Dean's base runners and getting crucial outs. Galenski recorded another run batted in when he singled in the fourth inning to put the Blazers up 4-1. However, the Blazers struggled soon there after, as the Bulldogs knocked around a couple of Elms pitchers, scoring six straight runs to take the game 7-4 and split the doubleheader with the Blazers.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Miller: two hits and two runs scored.

• Prestia: two hits, a run batted in, and a walk.

• First-year Eliel Colon (Springfield, MA): two hits and a run scored.

• Sophomore Justin Saad (Waterford, CT): five innings pitched and three strikeouts.

UP NEXT: The Blazers will travel to New England College on Tuesday, April 23rd in a conference matchup at 3:30 PM at Laurie Cox Memorial Field.

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