RINDGE, N.H. - The New England College baseball team split their third straight doubleheader against Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) competition, once again winning game one before dropping the night cap. The Pilgrims claimed game one at Pappas Field on the campus of Franklin Pierce University, 12-10, erasing a five-run lead to earn their third conference win of the season.
Game 1 – NEC 12, AMC 10
Senior Ryan Cote (Goffstown, N.H.) quickly got things going in the first inning, tripling to left center to plate senior Nick Hernandez (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) for the game's first run. A few batters later, Cote sped home and scored on a sacrifice fly that barely left the infield to put the 'Grims up 2-0.
In the fourth, Albertus Magnus put up six runs to snatch away the Pilgrim lead and jump ahead, 8-3. In the bottom half of the frame, sophomore Bobby Trigilio (Chicopee, Mass.) hit a lead-off home run to deep left center field to cut into the Falcon's cushion.
Senior Christopher Chagnon (Portsmouth, R.I.) struck out the side in the fifth, rebounding from a tough fourth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Chagnon's offense came through for him with eight runs to seize the lead.
The fifth started with Hernandez getting hit by a pitch and then scoring on a hard-hit double from Cote. Two pitches later, graduate Brady Philibotte (Weare, N.H.) made it an 8-7 ballgame with his third home run of the season to the deepest part of Pappas Field. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, junior Charlie Greenberg (Lewisboro, N.Y.) smacked a single up the middle, scoring two more Pilgrims and giving NEC the lead.
Before the Falcons could get out of the fifth, Hernandez singled home freshman Dillan Abbate (Port Jervis, N.Y.) and both Hernandez and sophomore Benoit Beaudoin (Meredith, N.H.) scored on an Albertus Magnus error. The 'Grims took a 12-8 lead into the sixth.
Chagnon ran into some trouble in the sixth as he neared 100 pitches on the afternoon, conceding two runs before junior Colby Rohr (Highland Village, Tex.) entered in relief. With two on, and the go-ahead run at the plate, Rohr needed just three pitches to get out of the jam with a two-run advantage still intact.
AMC's Alex Perez, who hit a home run earlier in the game, led off the seventh with a double off Rohr to once again bring the tying run to the plate. Rohr then retired the next three Falcons in order while earning his first career save and giving the 'Grims a 12-10 victory. Chagnon was credited with his second win.
Game 2 – NEC 2, AMC 16
Albertus Magnus jumped out to a 3-1 lead after three innings of game two with graduate Tyler Fenton (Wilmington, Mass.) scoring Cote with a sacrifice fly for NEC's first run. The Falcons would then erupt for 12 runs over the next two innings, capitalizing on the Pilgrims' six errors in the contest.
In the bottom of the fifth, after both Hernandez and Cote walked, and Philibotte singled to load the bases, Trigilio drove in Hernandez with a sacrifice fly for the team's second run. The Falcons scored once more in the sixth before blanking the Pilgrims the rest of the way to win a shortened seven-inning game, 16-2.
Between both games of the doubleheader, Cote went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, two runs batted in, and two walks. Hernandez scored four times on the day as the Pilgrims' table setters were on base all afternoon. Philibotte reached four times, Trigilio drove in two runs and scored twice, while Abbate went a perfect 3-for-3 with a walk in the game one win.
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