MILTON, Mass. - The Curry College baseball team split a doubleheader with visiting Nichols College on Monday afternoon in Milton. The Bison took the opener, 18-15, before the Colonels bounced back in the nightcap, 5-2. Curry is now 12-6 overall and 5-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC). Nichols' record is 2-9 overall and 1-5 in the CCC.
GAME ONE
The visiting Bison scored first in the top of the first. Sophomore Mike Piekarczyk (Dudley, Mass.) doubled to center field to bring in freshman Nick Roy (Middletown, Conn.) who singled and stole second. Freshman Spencer Madden (Nashua, N.H.) followed Piekarczyk with an RBI double of his own and was hit in by classmate Nick Osma (Babylon, N.Y.) with a single up the middle. Osma stole second and came across after sophomore Matt Hardy (North Attleboro, Mass.) singled to left field.
In the home half of the first, sophomore Brian Burke (Swampscott, Mass.) recorded the lone hit for Curry and the first inning ended in a 4-0 score advantage to Nichols.
In the second, Roy had another RBI driving in freshman Cam Cook (Phoenixville, Penn.) who singled and advanced on two errors. After freshman Brendan Martin (Nashua N.H.) reached on an error then stole second and after a ground out from Piekarczyk, Martin came across for an unearned run charged to Mike Reiher.
Another scoreless inning for the colonels and after two full, the score was 6-0.
Osma started off the inning with a single and would later score on a single to right off the bat of junior Joe Nicolace (Cranston, R.I.) and an error on junior John Arens (Milton, Mass.) Nicolace would eventually be brought in by freshman Johnny Doyon (Meriden, Conn.) after he singled to right.
The Curry bats came alive in the bottom half of the third starting with a leadoff walk from sophomore Alex McLean (Eliot, Maine) after junior Tim Lathrop (Colchester, Conn.) singled, and both of them moved up on a wild pitch, junior Phil Perez (West Covina, Calif.) reached on an error and scored McLean. Sophomore Nick Crivello (Blackstone, Mass.) singled through the infield bringing in Lathrop, and Arens followed with a single down the left field line to bring Perez across the plate and bringing the score to 8-3 still in favor of the Bison.
In the top of the fourth, Piekarczyk led off with a single and was brought in after Madden tripled to left field. Osma followed with an RBI triple of his own and would later score on a single from Doyon. Hardy was hit by a pitch and would later be brought home on a grounder from Cook.
Lathrop provided the only hit for Curry in the home half of the fourth and the score was 12-3 after four full.
Nichols had a quiet fifth inning, but the colonels started a comeback in their half. Senior Matt Warren (Wilbraham, Mass.) pinch hit for Crivello and reached on an error. After a single from sophomore Cam Douglas (Milford, N.H.) and another single from freshman Anthony Sciaudone (York, Maine) the bases were loaded. Pizarro singled to right center and brought in two runs. Freshman John Cave (Tewksbury, Mass.) had an RBI single bringing in Sciaudone and senior R.J. McCann (Brockton, Mass.) doubled to center bringing in Perez. Lathrop would go on to double to left center and cleared the bases and brought in McCann and Cave. This effort brought the score to 12-6 after five full.
Osma started things up again as he reached on an error and advanced to second after a hit batsman. Hardy sacrifice bunted Osma in. Cook got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Nicolace came across to score. A wild pitch brought in Hardy and Cook and Doyon both moved up a base. Martin reached on an error and Doyon scored, Roy followed with a two RBI double clearing the bases and bringing in Martin and Cook. Curry would eventually get out of the inning but not after six runs on one hit and three errors.
In the bottom half, Lathrop brought in two more runs on a single and Cave moved up to second. Cave and Lathrop both scored on Perez's single to left and the Colonels added four runs on three hits making the score 18-10.
After a 1-2-3 inning for Curry defensively, Arens started things off with a single and would later advance to second on Sciaudone hit and both would advance on a Derek Pizarro ground out. Senior Tanner Givens (Hamden, Conn.) would pinch hit for Cave and he brought in Sciaudone and Arens with a single to left field but that's all the Colonels would get and the final score was 18-15.
GAME TWO
The visiting Bison went down in a 1-2-3 first inning and Curry came up to bat.
Freshman Evan Morris (Pembroke, Mass.) recorded the lone hit for the Colonels in the first inning but was stranded at third after freshman Zack Bowden (Taunton, Mass.) struck out looking with the bases loaded.
In the second, the Bison were held to one hit off the bat of freshman Nick Osma (Babylon, N.Y.) and Curry was up again.
Freshman William De La Cruz (Bronx, N.Y.) started things up with one out with a single to left field and Arens followed with a walk. Junior Kyle Connors (Stoughton, Mass.) moved the runners up with a ground out. Sophomore Alex McLean (Eliot, Maine) drove in two runs with a single and put the Colonels up by 2.
After another quiet inning for both sides, the score was 2-0 after three full innings.
Freshman Nick Roy (Middletown, Conn.) led off with a single and would later advance on a Madden single and both would be moved up after sophomore Mike Piekarczyk (Dudley, Mass.) grounded out to first base. Roy would come home after a balk and Madden would advance to third but would be stranded there after Osma lined out to end the inning.
Curry would respond in the home half and add three runs to their total. Arens reached on an error with one out and would advance to second on the error as well. After two hit batsmen, the bases were loaded for Morris. Before he could get a hit however, there was a pass ball and Arens scampered home. Morris ended up grounding out, but Perez would reach on an error and both Connors and McLean scored on the error. Crivello would strike out to end the inning but not before the damage was done and the score was 5-1 after four full.
Neither team ended up letting up either a hit or a run over the next two full innings and we headed to the top of the seventh with the same score.
Doyon came on as a pinch hitter and reached on a fielder's choice with Osma advancing to third. Osma would later score on a single from Cook and Martin would ground into a fielder's choice and so would end the game.
The final score was 5-2 in favor of the home Colonels with Tanner Givens going all seven innings and letting up two runs (only one earned) on five hits and struck out 2.Freshman Zach Morgillo (Hamden, Conn.) would take the loss after going five full letting up five runs, two earned on three hits while giving up five while striking out five. Nicolace came on for the final inning striking out one and not letting up a hit or run.
Nichols will host Becker College tomorrow for another double header starting at 3 p.m. and the Colonels are set to hose Bridgewater State University Wednesday afternoon in non-conference action.
