BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (March 16, 2024) – After Friday's game featured 22 hits and lasted 2:44, Saturday afternoon's Sacred Heart University baseball contest had the opposite vibe at Veterans Memorial Park. The result was still a Pioneer victory though, as Joe Trombley (Watervliet, N.Y.) and Owen MacDonnell (Londonderry, N.H.) combined on a six-hitter and needed just 121 minutes to dispatch Merrimack, 4-1. SHU wrapped up its second straight Northeast Conference series win to open the season and will look for the series sweep at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Merrimack (3-13, 1-4 NEC) threatened right off the bat in the top of the first, when Cavan Brady launched an inside fastball off the top of the left-field fence for extra bases to put the Pioneers in an early jam. Trombley navigated the heart of the order though, as he forced a weak ground ball from Frankie Ferrentino and struck out Dawson Bryce to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the top of the third inning, Hayden Bond ripped a line drive past the reach of Tim McGuire (Portsmouth, R.I.) and into the left-field corner. Jacob Albert, who reached on a single down the right-field line, attempted to score from first on the play. Confusion as he rounded third held him up just long enough though, and a relay from Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.) to McGuire to Dennis Gamester (West Haven, Con.) nabbed Albert at the plate.
The early innings were highlighted by the starting pitchers, as Trombley and Warriors right-hander James Borsari dueled to the tune of two hits apiece through three scoreless innings. The Pios had just one hit in the first three innings, which was immediately erased on a double play.
The Pioneers broke through with two in the fourth, after putting runners on first and third for red-hot first-year Ronan Donohue (Melrose, Mass.). Donohue extended his hitting streak to six games and opened the scoring with an RBI single to right field. Kovalchik added a sacrifice fly to give the Pios a 2-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the fifth, Merrimack reliever Flynn Howard got himself into a bases-loaded jam by allowing a single and two walks, then walked Gavin Donohue (Melrose, Mass.) as well to force home the third run of the game. SHU missed a chance to land a knockout blow though, as Howard struck out McGuire and got Ronan Donohue to flyout to left to minimize the damage.
The Warriors got their only run of the afternoon in the sixth, after a single, a walk and a wild pitch put two in scoring position with nobody out. Frankie Ferrentino capitalized, as he landed a ball in front of the sprawling reach of centerfielder Michael Simonelli (Milford, Conn.) to cut the Pioneer lead to 3-1. SHU escaped further damage though, as Trombley got a groundout and a lineout before giving way to the southpaw MacDonnell, who came on to face the lefthanded bat of Christian Gemelli. MacDonnell got ahead in the count and got Gemelli to swing through a wipeout slider low and away to get SHU out of the inning.
Kovalchik added an RBI single in the seventh to create the 4-1 final. MacDonnell would throw scoreless, hitless ball with a pair of strikeouts over the final 3.1 innings to lock down his second save of the season.
Trombley (1-0) had the longest outing of his young collegiate career and picked up his first win as a Pioneer. He used 70 pitches (42 strikes) to get through 5.2 innings of one-run ball, allowed six hits, walked one and struck out two.
Borsari (0-2) went four innings on 52 pitches (36 strikes) for Merrimack, allowed two unearned runs on three hits, struck out three and did not issue a walk.
