Skyhawks Rally In Game Two, Complete Sweep Of Saint Anselm

White shuts out the Hawks in game one, Popp drives in three runs in game two

Senior Michael White shut down the Hawks in game one and scored the eventual game-winning run in game two for Stonehill.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (April 28, 2012) – Stonehill College, ranked seventh overall in the latest NCBWA East Regional Poll, swept a pair of Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Northeast Division games from Saint Anselm College, 2-0 and 7-6 (thirteen innings), on Saturday evening at Sullivan Park.

Stonehill 2, Saint Anselm 0

Senior Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) pushed his record to 3-2 overall on the season
tossing a complete-game shutout, yielding seven hits, three walks and two strikeouts.

Junior Robert Kelly (Aurora, Colo./Santa Margarita Catholic) was handed the loss on eight innings, six hits, two runs (both unearned), two walks and three punchouts. Freshman David Kent (North Falmouth, Mass./Avon Old Farms) pitched a scoreless ninth giving up one hit while striking out one.

Stonehill scored the only runs it needed in the sixth inning as sophomore Billy Karalis (Pawtucket, R.I./Bishop Feehan) plated senior Michael Zeiner (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) with a RBI single to right field and White scored on a wild pitch. Zeiner reached base on a fielding error earlier in the inning while White reached on a fielder's choice.

The Hawks best chance to score in the contest came in the fourth inning. With one out and freshman Mike Hayden (Cranston, R.I./Cranston West) on first base, sophomore Nate Gonya (Wolfeboro, N.H./Holderness) deposited a double into the right center gap but Hayden was thrown out at home on a relay by freshman center fielder Billy Horobin (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan) and sophomore second baseman Dan Fratus (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) to keep the game scoreless at the time.

White notched the only multi-hit game for the Skyhawks going 2-for-4 with a run scored out of the third spot in the lineup.

Stonehill 7, Saint Anselm 6 (thirteen innings)

Senior Michael Von Stein (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) earned the win in relief throwing three-and-two-thirds innings, allowing two hits, no runs and one walk. Classmate Bryan Galligan (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) picked up his first-career collegiate save on one inning, one hit and a walk.

Senior Joe Latino (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) suffered the loss in relief on three innings pitched, four hits, one run (earned) and three walks.

Stonehill rallied from a 5-0 deficit after the sixth inning to complete the sweep of the Hawks.

Senior Michael Von Stein threw 3.2 scoreless innings for the Skyhawks in relief allowing Stonehill to tie the game late and eventually complete the sweep.

In the 13^th inning, the Skyhawks claimed a 7-6 advantage as White ripped a two-out single to centerfield to keep the inning alive. Fratus followed and drove in the eventual game-winning run with his ninth double of the season (30^th run batted in).

Galligan inherited a 2-0 count to Gonya in the bottom half of the frame after Von Stein issued a leadoff walk and missed out of the zone twice Saint Anselm's number-seven hitter. Galligan eventually walked Gonya, recorded the first out of the inning on a flyout to center and let up a base hit to Andrew Chandler (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) setting up a bases loaded situation.

The Skyhawks defense preserved the win as sophomore Tito Lluberes (Lawrence, Mass./Lawrence) flew out to right field and pinch-runner Kyle Grumoli (South Hadley, Mass./South Hadley) was thrown out at home by Karalis to end the game.

Stonehill tied up the game in the top of the ninth inning on a sacrifice fly from Zeiner scoring pinch-runner James DeAlto (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff). DeAlto replaced Matt Anziano (Belchertown, Mass./Belchertown) who led off the frame with a walk, advanced to second as Dan Pidgeon (Darien, Conn./Darien) was hit-by-a-pitch and moved to third on Horobin's sacrifice bunt.

In the eighth inning, Karalis cut into the deficit at 6-5 bringing home Zeiner with a RBI groundout to second base. Zeiner led off the with a single to right field and advanced to third on a one-out double from Fratus.

Popp and Magnussen gave the Skyhawks some momentum in the seventh inning as Popp delivered a three-run blast to right field, his team-leading third round-tripper of the season, to make it 5-3 and senior Michael Magnussen (Carver, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) followed with a solo shot of his own to right field, his second of the year, to trim the gap to 5-4.

Popp led the offense going 3-for-6 at the plate with one run scored and three runs batted in. Fratus was 5-for-7 with one run scored and one RBI while Karalis had a 3-for-7 showing with one run and one RBI.

Senior right fielder Daniel DeCoste (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) paced the Hawks offensively with a 3-for-6 showing at the plate including one run scored and two runs batted in. Chandler went 5-for-5 with one run scored and one run drive in.

Stonehill College (26-17, 14-10 NE-10, 9-7 Northeast Division) takes on Saint Anselm College (24-21-1, 16-10-1 NE-10, 12-6-1 Northeast Division) tomorrow at 1 p.m. to wrap up its three-game weekend series at Sullivan Park.