Lions Roar Past AMCATS on Senior Day
With the wins Eastern Nazarene moves to 10-11 on the season while the AMCATS dip to 5-22 overall.
In between the two games the AMCATS honored their three graduating seniors, Carlos Ortiz (Worcester, Mass.) John Sullivan (Southbury, Conn.) and Phil Weihn (Clinton, Mass.). Head coach Dave McNamara recognized each player for their outstanding contributions to the success of the AMC baseball program over the past four seasons.
GAME 1: Eastern Nazarene 6, Anna Maria 2
Anna Maria collected six singles by six different player in game one. Already leading 2-0 the Lions pushed the advantage to 5-0 in the top of the third inning with an RBI double off the bat of David Manning and a single by Rocco Martinelli that plated Manning and Max Pugh.
Down 6-0 in the home half of the sixth inning the AMCATS broke-up the shutout. With two outs Ortiz and Jullian Diaz strung together back-to-back singles. Junior David Julian followed with a hard shot that the ENC second baseman couldn't handle scoring Ortiz.
Corey Andrade delivered an RBI fielder's choice in the bottom of the seventh for the 6-2 final.
Brandon Wells went the distance for ENC to pick up his third win of the season. Freshman Camden Frederick suffered the setback for the AMCATS allowing four earned runs over three innings, striking out four. Junior Tyler Stuart pitched four inning of relief for AMC allowing only one run with five strikeouts.
GAME 2: Eastern Nazarene 10 Anna Maria 4
Eastern Nazarene capitalized on erratic pitching from Phil Weihn in the circle to quickly build a 7-0 lead after just one-half inning. Pat Yee opened the game with a single to right field and scored one batter later when an errant throw from AMC third baseman Matthew Leahey sailed into foul territory. Pugh and Yee would each slapped a 2-RBI singles later in the inning and ENC added runs off a hit by pitch and pass ball to score the touchdown in the first frame.
Anna Maria would notch one run on the bottom of the second. John Sullivan laced a single to left field to opening the inning and Ortiz followed with a base-on-balls. Leahey tagged a single to left field in which Sullivan initially stopped at third but scored when the left fielder booted the baseball in the outfield.
The Lions added a run in the top of the third inning and the AMCATS answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth off a balk by Eastern Nazarene's pitcher.
ENC opened the sixth inning with a pair of runs, however AMC countered with a duo of their own in the bottom half of the frame for the 10-4 final.
The Lions used five different pitchers on the afternoon. Quentin Moore pitched five strong innings and earned the win, while Weihn took the loss for Anna Maria.
Anna Maria, who are now on Easter break, will next play again on Saturday April 26 and Sunday April 27 when they host UMaine-Presque Isle for four games.
