Mitchell College Gets Tennis Semifinal Win

Mitchell College defeated Becker College in the semifinals of the New England Collegiate Conference Men’s Tennis Championship on Wednesday, while the Mariners rallied to force extra innings in a baseball game but ultimately lost to Lesley University. The following information was provided by David Longolucco, sports information director at Mitchell College:

Men's Tennis: Mitchell 8, Becker 1

Mitchell (10-1 overall) cruised to its third win over the Hawks (5-10 overall) this season and advances to the finals of the NECC Championship. The Mariners will host second-seeded Regis College on Saturday, April 28 at 2 p.m. The two teams split regular season meetings and both owned 9-1 records in conference play.

Mitchell started its semifinals match by sweeping all three doubles points, with freshman Rajan Bawa (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) and junior Rocco Devona (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) leading the charge at the No. 1 spot. The duo defeated Branden Parkhouse (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Los Osos) and Timothy Howard (Paxton, Mass./Wachusett Regional) by an 8-1 final.

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The other two doubles matches were more closely contested. Seniors Tyler Engleberg (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme) and Alexander Fusco (Saugus, Mass./Saugus) topped Brian Piquette (Agawam, Mass./Feeding Hills) and Jake Gilbert (Huntington Beach, Calif./Harvest Christian Acad.) by an 8-4 score while senior Andrew Small (Westerly, R.I./Westerly) and freshman Chris McKeon (North Scituate, R.I./Scituate) edged David Graham (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Los Osos) and Jason Alera (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) by an 8-6 final.

The Mariners put the match away by winning five of six singles points. Both Bawa and Devona lost only one game en route to victories over Howard and Gilbert, respectively, at the top two spots. Engleberg and junior Randy Coons (Yonkers, N.Y./Brewster) also won in straight sets, the former defeating Parkhouse by finals of 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 while the latter won 6-2, 6-3 over Devon Dubuque (Cranston, R.I./Cranston West) at No. 6.

The remaining two matches both were both determined by super tiebreakers in lieu of a third set. Becker picked up its lone point at the No. 4 spot as Piquette rallied from a set down against Small to win by scores of 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-0 (10-7). In the closest match of the day, Fusco outlasted Graham to win 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 1-0 (10-6) at the No. 5 position.

Baseball: Lesley 8, Mitchell 5

The Mitchell College baseball team rallied from a five-run deficit to force extra innings against Lesley University on Wednesday evening, but the Lynx answered with a three-run eighth inning to come away with an 8-5 victory in a New England Collegiate Conference showdown.

Lesley (8-23 overall, 4-11 NECC) put up five runs in the second inning but watched the lead slip away down the stretch. Mitchell (7-18 overall, 6-9 NECC) scored three runs in the fifth to cut the margin to 5-4 and pushed across the game-tying run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Ryan McQuade (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding) put the Lynx back in front with an RBI single in the top of the eighth that scored Patrick Melo (Somerville, Mass./Somerville) from second base. Later on in the frame, the Mariners intentionally walked the bases loaded and brought the infield in for a play at home. Aqib Shah (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) didn’t give them a chance, delivering a double to right-center field to bring in two more runs.

Mitchell brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, but reliever Noah Shaw (Amston, Conn./Lebannon) got the final out on a line drive to left field to cement his second save of the season. Starting pitcher Jeff Landry (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) went 7.0 innings and gave up five runs on nine hits and struck out four to earn the win. He improved to 3-4 on the season.

Mitchell starter Tyler Shultis (West Hurley, N.Y./Onteora) didn’t make it out of the second inning as the Lynx plated five runs on three hits and an error. A two-run single by Adam Ciampi (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) put the Lynx on the board, and Robert Parson (Commack, N.Y./Commack) later followed with a grounder to short that brought in another run. Lesley made it 4-0 when Shah drew a bases-loaded walk and then scored its final run on a wild pitch.

The Mariners slowly chipped away at the lead. Senior Tommy Derosier (Brooklyn, Conn./Killingly) singled to center in the bottom of the second to score the first Mitchell run. In the third frame, senior Ethan Graynor (Leonia, N.J./Leonia) supplied an RBI single while Shultis plated a run with a sacrifice fly. Graynor later scored the final run when Derosier dropped down a bunt with two outs and beat the throw to first base.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Graynor reached base after being hit by a pitch to put the tying run on base. Sophomore Lucas Mariani (North Kingston, R.I./North Kingston) came in to pinch run for Graynor and moved over to second base on another hit batsman. After a wild pitch moved Mariani to third, freshman Justin Lemanski (New Britain, Conn./E.C. Goodwin Tech) hit a pop up to shallow right that was deep enough to score the runner.

Freshman Mike Grofsick (Hawthorne, N.J./Hawthorne) pitched 6.0 innings of solid relief but was saddled with the loss. He allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and walked five while striking out two.

Mitchell will next host Southern Vermont College for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 28 at noon. Lesley returns to action at Becker College on Saturday at noon.