RINDGE, N.H. – The New Haven baseball team had a hard time keeping the ball in the park on Saturday afternoon in the hills of New Hampshire as four players combined for seven total home runs as the Chargers took both ends of a doubleheader (Game 1: 15-7 | Game 2: 9-4) against the Franklin Pierce Ravens. With the pair of wins on Saturday, New Haven improves to 17-15 on the season and 9-5 in Northeast-10 Conference play.
Combined across the two games it was sophomore left fielder Owen Pincince (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) who led the team with four hits, however it was the big bat of first baseman Matt McIntire (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) that powered the Chargers to victory as he finished with three hits combined across the two games, all three of which were home runs. On his three long balls, he drove in five total runs, including four in the opening game when he finished 2-for-5 and scored three runs.
Following Pincince and McIntire, three additional players combined for three hits across the doubleheader with two of those three accounting for part of the seven total home runs. Matching McIntire on the afternoon was Tyler Wells (Danville, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) who finished 3-of-9 at the plate with two of his three hits sailing over the outfield wall, while his third hit went in the books as a double.
Infielders Noah Budzik (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) and Joseph Frazzetta (Howard Beach, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) joined McIntire and Wells in finishing the day with three hits apiece. Frazzetta saw one of his three hits go for extra bases as he sent his first collegiate home run over the fence in the opening game. All of Budzik's hits were singles, while the Chargers backstop in the game two, Casey Cerruto (Torrington, Conn./St. Paul Catholic), accounted for the final home run of the day. In addition to their hat trick of hits, Frazzetta also drove in three runs and Budzik drove in a pair.
On the hill it was the starters that earned the victories with Liam Carroll (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) and Michael Gatti (East Norwich, N.Y./Oyster Bay) each putting together strong efforts as they boosted their win total. In the opener, Carroll threw 6.2 innings for the victory, surrendering seven runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts. Gatti threw 5.2 innings allowing four runs on nine hits and a staff-best eight strikeouts.
In the opening game, Matthew Minio (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) came out of the pen for the Chargers to throw 2.1 scoreless innings, surrendering three hits and striking out a pair. In the night cap, both Jake Zenger (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) and Drew Silverman (Commack, N.Y./Commack) saw time out of the pen, with Silverman throwing a scoreless seventh inning, facing the minimum of three batters and striking out two of the three.
The Chargers will continue their four-game stretch in Northern New England on Sunday with a pair of games coming in Colchester, Vt. as they visit the Saint Michael's Purple Knights for a doubleheader. First pitch in the opening game has been moved up to 10:00 a.m. as the Colchester area is expecting inclement weather later in the day.
