Mitchell College Sports Roundup

Mitchell College tennis players took eight of the nine titles up for grabs on Sunday at the NECC Men's Tennis Championships. The Mariners also lost a baseball game to Southern Vermont College. The following information was provided by David Longolucco, sports information director at Mitchell College:

Men's Tennis

Three doubles champions and six singles champions were crowned on the final day of the 2011 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Men’s Tennis Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Mitchell College tennis courts.

The Mitchell College Mariners won eight out of the nine titles, sweeping the day in doubles and taking five of the six singles flights. All six Mitchell players who competed won in either doubles or singles and earned all-tournament honors. Lesley University’s Christian Domingo (Granada Hills, Calif./Delphi Academy) kept the Mariners from sweeping the championship by winning the fifth singles flight.

The day began with three doubles matches. Mitchell’s Kyle Carmona (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) and Rocco Devona (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) breezed to an 8-2 win in the first flight against Lesley’s David Newton (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) and Alex Zhitnik (West Hartford, Conn./Conard).

The other two doubles matches featured teams from Mitchell and Becker College. The second-seeded Mitchell team of Adam Samuels (New Rochelle, N.Y./Soundview Prep) and Andrew Small (Westerly, R.I./Westerly) upset Becker’s Matt Graham (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Los Osos) and Josh Rasmussen (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) by an 8-5 final in the third flight. The closest doubles match of the day came in the second flight, where top-ranked Tyler Engleberg (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme) and Alexander Fusco (Saugus, Mass./Saugus) held on for an 8-6 victory against Tim Howard (Paxton, Mass./Wachusett Regional) and Branden Parkhouse.

In singles action, the featured match in the first flight between Carmona and Newton was the last one to wrap up. Carmona won the first five games of the first set and won 6-2 to take the early advantage. The score was then tied 2-2 in the second set before Carmona broke Newton’s serve and went on win 6-2, earning the third consecutive singles title of his career.

The match between Domingo and Small in the fifth flight was the only one that went to a deciding third set on the day. Domingo dropped the first set 3-6 but rallied back to post 6-3, 6-3 wins to earn his second straight singles title. It also marked the second straight year that Domingo had spoiled a Mitchell sweep of the championship.

Two other Mitchell players were also repeat title winners. Devona won his second singles title in as many years in a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Lesley’s Nick Mattox (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake). Engleberg also notched his second straight singles title by defeating Parkhouse 6-3, 7-5 in the third flight.

Samuels earned his first career singles title with a win over Becker’s Brian Piquette (Agawam, Mass./Feeding Hills) in the fourth flight. Samuels captured the first set 6-2 and was leading 2-0 in the second when Piquette retired.

The only upset of the singles finals came in the sixth flight, where second-seeded Fusco upended top-seeded Rasmussen in straight sets (6-4, 6-2). The singles title was the first of Fusco’s career.

Following the matches individual awards were handed out by NECC Commissioner Del Malloy and Mitchell Director of Athletics Maureen White. Both the Mariners and Lynx were also presented with a plaque for being co-champions of the conference during the regular season.

Baseball: Southern Vermont 4, Mitchell 2

The Mitchell College baseball team dropped a 4-2 decision at Southern Vermont College on Sunday afternoon on the final day of the regular season.

Southern Vermont (16-20 overall, 10-8 NECC) took two of three games from the Mariners in the weekend series. The win earned the Mountaineers the final berth in the 2011 NECC Baseball Championship, which will best hosted by Mitchell on May 6-8.

Mitchell (19-8-1 overall, 14-4 NECC) fell behind 2-0 in the first inning and never caught back up. The Mariners rallied in the ninth to put the tying run on second base with only one out but couldn’t bring it home.

Trailing 3-0 after two innings, the Mariners put a run on the scoreboard in the sixth thanks to a RBI single by sophomore Osmer Collado (New York, N.Y./St. Agnes Boys) that plated junior John Apostolo (Queens, N.Y./St. Mary’s). Southern Vermont got the run back in the bottom of the frame, however, to make it 4-1.

Mitchell loaded the bases with only one out in the ninth to make it interesting. Senior Jeff Perillo (Newington, Conn./Newington) drew a walk to force in a run and cut the deficit to two, and the Mountaineers went to the bullpen in favor of closer Dave Gage. He retired the next two batters he faced to end the game, getting freshman Anthony Santiago (Newark, N.J./Bloomfield Tech) to pop out to short and Apostolo to fly out to right.

The Mariners wasted a strong start from freshman pitcher Jon Blair (Waterford, Conn./Waterford), who tossed 8.0 innings and allowed four runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out seven.

The NECC will announce the seeding and schedule for the upcoming championship on Monday.