Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 HENNIKER, N.H. The New England College baseball team secured the second seed heading into the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) playoff tournament after sweeping Newbury College on Sunday afternoon.

THE BASICS
Score: New England College 16, Newbury College 1 (Game One)
New England College 11, Newbury College 1 (Game Two)

Records:Pilgrims (22-15, 10-6 NECC) | Nighthawks (7-24, 4-12 NECC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game One: New England College 16, Newbury College 1
Newbury struck in the top of the first inning. Dante Serino walked and Brett Cabral reached base on an error which extended the inning. Dylan Presby singled to center field to score Serino for the 1-0 lead. The Pilgrims responded rather quickly as they posted six runs in the bottom of the second inning. The inning started with a double by Evan Delaney, followed by a single by Xavier Nunez to put runners on the corners. Luis Atiles legged out an infield single to score Delaney. Both Nunez and Atiles successfully completed a double steal which gave Manuel Alejandro an opportunity to tack on more runs. He hit a sacrifice fly to score Nunez. Nick Powers hit a two-run homerun to give NEC a 4-1 lead. Bobby Fulkerson reached on a bunt single and Christian Aybar hit the Pilgrims second homerun of the inning to give NEC a 6-1 lead.

The Pilgrims added to their lead when Connor Morin drove a three-run homerun to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning. The big fly is Morin's team leading seventh on the season. NEC tallied seven more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Atiles singled to right field which scored Tyler Gendron. Clifford Guerrero singled to left field which brought Shane McNamara home. Ryan Tessier doubled down the left field line to score Tyler Galenski and Atiles. Anderson Jimenez doubled to left center field to brought Guerrero and Tessier around to score before Gendron doubled to score Jimenez. The Pilgrims tallied three straight doubles which made up the majority of the offensive output in the inning. The Pilgrims led through six innings of play, 16-1.

Joseph Pascucci earned his third win on the season after pitching 4.0 innings. He allowed two hits and one run, unearned. Senior Brendan Halloran came on in relief throwing 1.1 innings before handing the ball over to classmate Colby Howe who pitched 1.0 innings. Matt White came on to record the final two outs of the contest allowing the seniors to get their work on senior day.

Game Two: New England College 11, Newbury College 1
The Pilgrims jumped on the board in their first opportunity as Morin reached on a fielder's choice. However, Aybar scored on a poor throw by the fielder to give the Pilgrims a 1-0. NEC quickly extended their lead when the next batter in Delaney drove his sixth homerun of the season down the left field line. The Pilgrims led 3-0 through one inning of play. The power surge would continue as Nunez drove the fifth homerun of the day out to center field in the third inning. The homer was his first on the 2019 campaign. Powers added an RBI single before Fulkerson grounded out to score Powers which gave NEC a 7-0 lead.

Joe Maestu kept the scoring the way of the Pilgrims as he doubled in the sixth inning with the bases loaded to score Jameson Carey and Jose Guillermo. Fulkerson doubled in the next at-bat to score Guerrero and Maestu, which gave NEC an 11-0 lead. However, Newbury would get on the board when Leo Frisella reached base to score David Center and breakup the shutout.

Jeam Castillo earned the start and the win after throwing 2.1 hitless innings in his first win and start of the season. Dylan Champagne, Shaun Cormier, and Selah Dalomba all came on in relief to close out game two.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
-This was the second and third meeting all-time between the Nighthawks and Pilgrims. The Pilgrims lead the series, 3-0.
-Prior to game one, the New England College Athletic Department honored Manuel Alejandro, Christian Aybar, Jeam Castillo, Evan Delaney, Brendan Halloran, Colby Howe, Xavier Nunez, and Nick Powers for the senior day festivities.

UP NEXT
Thursday, May 2^nd vs. TBA at Laurie Cox Memorial Field, 4 p.m.