QUINCY, Mass. — Trailing by one going into the seventh inning, the Southern Vermont College baseball team opened up for five runs before finishing off an 8-1 non-conference victory Wednesday afternoon at Eastern Nazarene College's Adams Field.
SVC's offense struggled early on as the Lions' starting pitcher had a no-hitter going after the sixth. That changed quickly, however, as a two-run homer by Southern Vermont sophomore shortstop John Arancio (Oradell, N.J.) gave the Mountaineers the edge before they tacked up three more runs in the frame. The visitors then crossed the dish three times in the ninth while keeping ENC from scoring after the hosts got their only run of the day in the fourth.
Southern Vermont improves to 6-11 on the year with its third straight victory and first win in four all-time meetings with Eastern Nazarene. The Mountaineers turn right around to a Thursday non-league away game, visiting Mass. College of Liberal Arts for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch at Joe Wolfe Field in North Adams.
Freshman right-hander Joe Braim (Schuylerville, N.Y.) had a stellar performance on the rubber to pick up his first collegiate win (1-2), going eight strong innings as he let up just the one run on eight hits and struck out four Lion batters. Sophomore Jean-Carlos Berasgoico (New York City, N.Y.) tossed the ninth, surrendering one meaningless hit to finish off the day.
Arancio ended the game with a 2-4 showing at the plate, being matched by sophomore third baseman Rob Spatafore (Mahopac, N.Y.) who did the same while scoring twice in the victory.
The Lions' pitching started strong, sitting down the first eight SVC batters of the game with five straight ground outs and three consecutive strikeouts. The Mountaineers got a runner on board in the third with a fielding miscue by Eastern Nazarene, a throwing error that allow the batter to move all the way around to third with two outs. He would be stranded there, however, as the hosts got a ground out to short to get back into the dugout.
ENC worked two runners on in each the bottom of the first and the second, but Southern Vermont worked out of both frames to keep the game scoreless. The Lions pushed a runner to third in the next inning with a wild pitch and an advancing grounder to short with one down, but Braim got out of the jam with a pop out to first and a final grounder to Arancio at short to maintain the 0-0 stalemate.
After The Mountaineers went down in order, ENC broke through to the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth with a lone tally. A single put runners on first and second for the Lions, and a sacrifice bunt moved them both into scoring position with just one out. A grounder to short ensued, allowing the lead runner to cross home while the Southern Vermont defense retired the batter at first. A final ground out to Arancio ended the inning with Eastern Nazarene on top 1-0.
Neither side could get their one runner in the fifth past first before ENC recorded its fourth 1-2-3 frame of the afternoon. A single up the middle put a Lion on the pond in the bottom of the sixth, only to be stranded there as Braim got the next batter to roll one down to senior second baseman RJ Pingitore (Perth, N.Y.) to retire the side.
That's when Southern Vermont crossed the plate for the first time of the day, doing so five times to take the lead. Pingitore got on to lead-off the seventh with the second ENC fielding mishap, and he moved up 90 feet with some small-ball as SVC utilized a sacrifice bunt to get him into scoring position. The senior captain would be able to trot all the way around to score, however, as Arancio followed with his second dinger of the season, sending the one-out pitch over the fence in left-center to put his team ahead 2-1.
The Mountaineers weren't done, though, as they kept the hits coming. Three straight singles ensued, the first being off of the bat of junior designated hitter Anthony Mercuri (Ridge, N.Y.); sophomore Austin Teitelbaum (Westhampton, N.Y.) then came through with the pinch-hit RBI as he sent one down to the ENC first baseman, making way for Mercuri to scamper across the dish with SVC's third run. After a walk reloaded the bases, Southern Vermont was benefited with another run due to a fielding error by the Eastern Nazarene third baseman, and a balk call then allowed Spatafore to come in as the visitors took a 5-1 advantage by batting around the order.
Braim returned to the bump, now with some run support, and made quick work of the Lions with some help from his defense. The rookie got the first batter to fly out to center before recording his fourth strikeout of the day. ENC then tallied a two-out single to the gap in right center, a hit that was attempted to be stretched into a double; sophomore Niko D'Agnese (Mahopac, N.Y.) came up throwing, however, gunning down the runner for his second outfield assist in as many games.
Arancio knocked his second hit of the day to center in the top of the eighth to get aboard with one out, but he would be caught trying to steal second for the SVC side to be retired. Braim allowed just a lone single in the home half of the box, the two-out base hit to center proving hollow as the Mountaineers' middle infield took care of the third out to end the inning.
Southern Vermont was able to extend its lead in the ninth, Spatafore getting things started with a one-out double to center. A hit by pitch and a fourth ENC fielding error loaded the bases before a strikeout got the Lions that much closer to their bench. The Eastern Nazarene pitching couldn't finish off the frame, however, as Pingitore worked the run-scoring walk that forced a change on the mound. A throwing error by the Lion catcher allowed two more SVC runs to score, making it an 8-1 ballgame heading into ENC's final turn at the plate.
Berasgoico entered from the pen and strung up the first two batters he faced with called third strikes. A single to left followed, being turned into a pair of bases as the Lion then swiped second. It would be to no avail, however, as Richards bagged a pop up over his head for the third and final out of the game.