WEST HAVEN, Conn. (March 18, 2023) – Consider the Sacred Heart University baseball team's first-ever meetings with Stonehill a success. Following Friday's walk-off victory in their home opener, the Pios took care of business with much less drama on Saturday afternoon at Yale's George H.W. Bush Field. Sacred Heart took both ends of a twinbill from the visiting Skyhawks, 13-5 and 7-4, to round out the weekend sweep of the Northeast Conference series. Justin Jordan (Darien, Conn.) recorded his 200th career hit in the first game, while Gino Manicchio (Ossining, N.Y.) and Sam Mongelli (Marlboro, N.Y.) both went deep on the day for the Pios.
With the pair of wins, SHU is above .500 for the first time on the season, at 8-7 (5-1 NEC), while Stonehill falls to 1-12 (0-3 NEC) and has lost six straight. The Pios are off to their best start in NEC play since the 2016 squad came out of the gates at 6-0.
Game 1: Sacred Heart 13, Stonehill 5
The drama in the first game was gone in a hurry. The Pios sent 10 men to the plate and collected six hits to plate six runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back. There was only one extra-base hit among them, as Mark Smith (East Haven, Conn.) capped the frame's scoring by yanking an RBI double down the left-field line. Tim McGuire (Portsmouth, R.I.) had the inning's biggest blow with a two-run single back through the middle, while Robert Farruggio (Fairfield, Conn.) and Manicchio had RBI singles as well. Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.) also drove in a run, as he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Jordan, who had singled in the first, wasted no time getting the two hits he needed to reach 200 for his career. He led off the bottom of the second, went the other way and drove a double over the head of the left fielder to reach the milestone. He would later score on an RBI groundout to make it a 7-0 game.
The rest of the contest was largely academic. Stonehill got one in the third, but SHU plated three in the fifth, two in the sixth and another in the seventh, to push the lead all the way out to 13-1. Manicchio clubbed his second homer of the season in the sixth, with a two-run shot to straightaway right. The Skyhawks plated four in the eighth to create the 13-5 final.
Right-hander Michael Boyian (Norwalk, Conn.) threw 75 pitches (48 strikes) over five innings of one-run ball to pick up the win (2-0) for Sacred Heart. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out two.
Right-hander Brendan Kelly (0-4) had a rough start on the other side for Stonehill. He threw 86 pitches (58 strikes) over four innings, was tagged for eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits, walked one and struck out six.
Game 2: Sacred Heart 7, Stonehill 4
The second game would stay competitive for much longer. The two teams traded a run apiece in the first inning to kick things off. In the top half, Sam Parks cranked his first collegiate home run to right field for Stonehill. In the bottom half, SHU answered with an RBI double down the left-field line by Farruggio.
SHU got a run in the third on Mongelli's third homer of the season, a deep blast to the power alley in left-center, but Stonehill took the lead with two in the top of the fourth. Taylor Gaspar clocked a solo dinger to left-center, his second of the season, and Conor Kiely dropped an RBI single into left-center.
The Pios leveled things up when a run scored on a wild pitch in the fourth, and then took the lead for good in the home half of the fifth. Jordan beat out an infield single to lead things off, made an opportunistic first-to-third dash on a single to left-center by Ryan Donnelly (Fairfield, Conn.) and then scored on an errant pickoff throw. Donnelly moved to second on the error and later scored when McGuire doubled down the left-field line.
Sacred Heart got some important insurance runs in the seventh, when first-year Joe Cilea (Colts Neck, N.J.) pumped a two-out, two-run single into right-center to push the lead out to 7-3. Stonehill got one back in the eighth, on an RBI single by Mike Swanholm, but could get no closer. Right-hander Tyler Briggs (Franklin, Conn.) got the side in order in the ninth to lock down his first save of the season.
Right-hander Jack Kramer (Glen Rock, N.J.) threw 95 pitches (66 strikes) over the first five innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits, walked one, hit a batter and struck out five on the way to the win (2-2).
Five Stonehill pitchers combined to allow seven runs (six earned) on 13 hits, with three walks and eight strikeouts. Right-hander Andrew Wertz (0-3) came on in the fourth and ultimately surrendered the two runs (one earned) in the fifth to take the loss.
SHU has a midweek date at Boston College on Wednesday, before returning home to host Maryland Eastern Shore in a three-game NEC series March 24-26.
