AUBURNDALE, Fla. - March 12, 2016 - Intrastate foes, Colby-Sawyer College and New England College traveled to Auburndale, Florida to play a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) doubleheader on opening day. Colby-Sawyer came from behind and took game one 13-9, while New England College earned a 7-6 walk-off win in game two.
GAME ONE – Colby-Sawyer 13, New England College 9After a scoreless top of the first, New England College received a pair of two-run hits from Zachary Carrano and Lonnie Cohen.
Colby-Sawyer headed to the top of the third trailing 7-1 but responded with six runs over the next two frames to tie the score.
Connor Henry had a two-run single in the fourth.
The Pilgrims retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a wild pitch, but Colby-Sawyer scored three times in the top of the sixth to take a 10-8 lead.
NEC got a run back in their half of the sixth, but Colby-Sawyer added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh to secure the 13-9 victory.
Andrew Carbone got the win for the Chargers after tossing 3.1 innings of relief, while
Michael Fazio was credited with a save with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to close the game. NEC's Elijah Holland was saddled with the loss.
Freshman
Doug Avellino had a team best three hits to go along with two RBI for Colby-Sawyer in his collegiate debut.
Nathan Frongillo added a hit to extend his hit streak to 13 games, dating back to last season.
Jeff Dunn,
Andrew Pratt, and
Connor Henry each had two RBI.
Connor Crouse went 3-for-3 in the leadoff spot for NEC. Cohen knocked in a team best three RBI.
GAME TWO – New England College 7, Colby-Sawyer 6Colby-Sawyer scored all six of its runs in the top of the second on four singles.
Nathan Frongillo and
Doug Avellino had two RBI apiece. Frongillo pushed his hitting streak to 14 games.
NEC slowly chipped away at the deficit with two runs in the second and a run in the third.
The Chargers held a 6-3 lead heading into NEC's final at-bat. The Pilgrims benefited from a few walks in the frame and received the game-winning hit on a hit-and-run with two outs. As Shawn Queen was breaking from third base, Justin Hopkins check-swung, made contact to shortstop and beat the throw to first to give NEC the 7-6 walk-off victory.
Vincent Backert went the distance on the mound for NEC and finished with eight strikeouts.
Liam Datres de la Blotier recorded a pair of hits, while
Austin Butler had one hit in their collegiate debuts.
Chris Mitchell Jr., tossed five innings and surrendered just two earned runs in a no decision.
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