QUINCY, Mass. – Playing at home for the first time this spring, the Eastern Nazarene College baseball team earned a 5-3 victory over Southern Vermont College Thursday afternoon at Bradley Field in non-conference action.
The Lions improve to 6-5 on the season with the win while the Mountaineers descend to 5-9 overall.
Southern Vt. freshman catcher Nathan Cahoone (Westerly, R.I.) went 2-3 at the plate while junior right fielder Roland Hernandez (Pico Rivera, Calif.) helped the offense with a solo home run in addition to a walk. Junior first baseman Cody LaBadia (Howes Cave, N.Y.) was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI, and sophomore second baseman Richard Rios (Pico Rivera, Calif.) worked a walk and scored a run in the effort.
Pat Yee (Lynnfield, Mass.) collected a pair of hits on the day for ENC while scoring a run and driving in another. Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) recorded two base knocks in the game and crossed the plate twice. Quentin Moore (Sheridan, Calif.), Max Pugh (San Diego, Calif.) and Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) each notched an RBI in the game.
The visitors got on the board in the top of the first inning, scoring once to grab a 1-0 lead. LaBadia laced an RBI single to left to drive in junior center fielder Sal Sciara (Massapequa, N.Y.) from third who had gotten on with a plunk and a promptly stolen base.
Eastern Nazarene leveled the contest at 1-1 in the home half of the second. Yee raked a run-scoring single to left field to plate David Manning (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) from third with no outs.
The Mountaineers extended their lead to 3-1 as Hernandez blasted a lead-off home run to left-center to start the fourth.
The Lions evened the score at 3-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Yee rounded third and scored from second on a flare single off the bat of Moore. Jake Koch (Dayton, Nev.) crossed the plate with the tying run as Jeremy Wagner reached base on a fielding error.
Eastern Nazarene then seized its first lead of the game in the sixth. Justin Wagner hooked a two-out single down the left field line before stealing second base. Jeremy Wagner followed with an RBI single to center field to drive in the go-ahead tally.
ENC chalked up a run in the eighth to stretch its advantage to 5-3. After Manning and Anthony Berroa (Teaneck, N.J.) were both issued walks to load the bases, Pugh drew a base on balls to allow Justin Wagner to trot home with an insurance run for the Lions.
Manning pitched five innings in his second start of the season on the hill and struck out four batters.
Eastern Nazarene's bullpen shut the door on the Mountaineers, combining for four shutout innings. Brandon Wells (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) tossed 1.2 innings of relief and fanned two en route to picking up his second win of the year. Doug English (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) closed out the win with a scoreless ninth to earn his first save of the spring. SVC starting junior Dustyn Marfyak (Torrington, Conn.) suffered the loss (0-2) after giving up four runs, three earned, in 5.2 innings of work.
The Mountaineers are right back at it this weekend with a three-game New England Collegiate Conference series at home against Newbury College; Saturday's doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. at Bill Epstein Field and will be followed by SVC's head shaving event in support of the Vs.-Cancer Foundation to fight kids' cancer. Eastern Nazarene visits Gordon College Saturday for a Commonwealth Coast Conference doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.