NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The NEC baseball team saw their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) postseason hopes come to an end on Saturday as they suffered a pair of defeats on the road against Norwich. The Cadets earned a 6-1 victory in game one before narrowly clipping the Pilgrims in a high-scoring game two, 15-13. 

Game 1 – NEC 1, Norwich 6 

Carson Rath dominated on the mound for the Cadets, allowing just one run with 11 strikeouts in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. He permitted just six baserunners on three hits and three walks on the afternoon. 

Norwich took an early 3-0 lead, scoring once in the bottom of the first and twice more in the second. The 'Grims recorded their first hit of the game in the top of the fourth on a single from senior Harold Martinez (Wethersfield, Conn). One batter later, sophomore Bobby Trigilio (Chicopee, Mass.) doubled home graduate Brady Philibotte (Weare, N.H.) to put NEC on the board. 

Trailing 4-1 in the top of the sixth, Philibotte smacked a double to center field before Trigilio was intentionally walked to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs. Rath came up with a big strikeout to preserve their lead into the bottom of the sixth where they would add two more insurance runs. The 'Grims would go down in order in the top of the seventh, finished off with Rath's 11th punch out to end the game. 

Senior Christopher Chagnon (Portsmouth, R.I.) suffered the loss on the mound for the Pilgrims, conceding six runs (three earned) across six innings of work. The outing was Chagnon's fourth consecutive complete game as he has reached a career high of 55.2 innings this season. 

Game 2 – NEC 13, Norwich 15 

The Pilgrims struck first in game two as Pellerin drove in senior Ryan Cote (Goffstown, N.H.) with an RBI double to take a 1-0 lead. The Cadets fired back with a quick answer, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first.  

In the top of the fourth, freshman Dillan Abbate (Port Jervis, N.Y.) worked a two-out walk and came all the way around to score on a double by graduate Tyler Fenton (Wilmington, Mass.). Just as NEC pulled within three, Norwich plated six runs in the bottom-half of the frame to go up, 11-2. 

The Cadets went to the bullpen at the start of the fifth frame, turning to Jac Campbell to hold their nine-run lead. Campbell would plunk senior Nick Hernandez (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) before giving up a double to Cote and an RBI single to Philibotte. With two on, Pellerin launched a three-run home run as Campbell was relieved before recording a single out. 

The NEC rally continued in the fifth as Trigilio hit his second double of the day and Abbate walked. Freshman TJ Hicks (Tampa, Fla.) connected on an RBI single to score Trigilio before both he and Abbate scored on Cote's second double of the inning to make it an 11-9 ballgame. 

Norwich once again had a counter, adding two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to return their lead to four. But the Pilgrim' bats stayed hot as Pellerin and Martinez led off the sixth with back-to-back singles before Trigilio hit another double to score Pellerin. Abbate and Fenton would each deliver sacrifice flies to pull within one after six. 

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Philibotte got aboard with a single and advanced to second on a Pellerin walk. Philibotte stole third before racing home on a pickoff error to knot things up at 13-a-piece. 

The hosts pushed a run across in the bottom of the seventh to take a 1-0 lead, putting the pressure on the Pilgrims. NEC put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the eighth, but Bryson Bush was able to navigate the Cadets out of trouble and eliminated the scoring threat. 

The Cadets scored again in the bottom of the eighth before retiring the 'Grims in order in the top of the ninth to secure the 15-13 victory. Bush earned the win after four innings of relief while freshman Nate Gallant (Epping, N.H.) was dealt the loss out of the NEC bullpen. 

Cote and Pellerin each had three hits in game two while combining for six of the team's 12 RBIs and four of their seven extra-base hits. Philibotte added two more hits to his career tally while Abbate walked three times as they each rank inside the top-10 in the GNAC in on-base percentage. 

---- 

The Pilgrims wrap up their season on Monday, April 27th as they travel north to Plymouth State for a non-conference matchup starting at 12:00 PM at Parish Field. 

For continuing coverage of New England College Athletics, visit athletics.nec.edu and follow the Pilgrims on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.