Nighthawks Stumble Against Mountaineers, 10-7; 12-6

The Newbury College baseball team lost their home and New England Collegiate Conference opener to Southern Vermont College, 10-7 and 12-6, Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Adam Northup (Richmond, RI/Chariho Regional) led the Mountaineers to a double-header sweep with a 2-3, two RBI performance in game one and a seven inning complete game in game two.

Sophomore Dave Gage (Watervliet, NY/Watervliet) and freshman Patrick Warrington (Folcroft, PA/Monsignor Bonner) also drove in two runs with two doubles in a monster, six run fifth inning to take the lead, 9-1. The Nighthawks made a valiant comeback attempt in the later innings, sparked by  Patrick Curry's (Hampstead, NH/Pinkerton Academy) three-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth. Starting pitcher, Alex Chetelat (Farmington, CT/Farmington) helped his own cause with a 3-4 performance including an RBI.

In the second game, Newbury jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead with four runs in the first inning. Senior Evan Hudson (Sunapee, NH/Sunapee) got the game started with a triple to centerfield and scored the first run of the ballgame on a ground out to shortstop by Hayato Iwahori (Tokyo, Japan/Megurgo-Gakuin).  Southern Vermont grinded their way back with six runs in the third inning to take their first lead of the game, 7-5. Freshman catcher Eric Wells (Athens, PA/Athens) led the Mountaineers to the 12-6 win in game two with a perfect 4-4 performance and was a homerun shy of the cycle.

The game was a slugfest as both Hudson and fellow senior William Maddock (Marshfield, MA/Marshfield) were one hit away from hitting for the cycle. Hudson just needed a double to complete the feat while his classmate was a homerun shy with a late RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh.

With the losses the Nighthawks fall to 1-11 and 0-2 in the NECC while the Mountaineers improve to 4-12 overall and 2-0 in the NECC. Newbury will return to action tomorrow as they travel to the Massachusetts Martime Academy at 12:00pm. Their next home game will be against Fitchburg State College Tuesday March 31 at 3:30 PM.