Offense Paces Wentworth Past Newbury

WENHAM, Mass. – Sophomore forward Justin Bolla (Newburyport, Mass.) went 3-for-5 with four RBI and junior Matt Jordan (Concord, N.H.) went 3-for-6 to help a 17-hit attack, while sophomore Kyle Cruz (Burlington, Conn.) pitched eight strong innings as the Wentworth baseball team ran its win streak to seven games with an 11-4 win over Newbury, in a non-conference game played at Gordon College's J. Tec White Field.

The visiting Nighthawks had runners at first and third with two outs in the first inning, but saw the threat end when Cruz read a steal play perfectly and got the final of out of the inning at second base.  After going in order in the first inning, Wentworth would get one run in the second when Bolla drove a single to left, which scored junior Mike Diodato (Asbury, N.J.), who had drawn a one-out walk.  However, with runners at second and third and two outs, Nighthawk sophomore Curran Shane (Bedford, N.H.) induced a flyout to end the threat.

Wentworth sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run third inning.  Jordan got things started with a double and then traded places with sophomore Conner Flisnik (Marcy, N.Y.).  After Flisnik moved to third on a wild pitch, senior Pete Oggeri (sandy Hook, Conn.) drove him home with a sacrifice fly to left.  With the bases loaded and one out, Bolla drove a two-run single through the left side to make it a 4-0 lead.  Sophomore Joe Meucci (West Hartford, Conn.) scored when Bolla was thrown out trying to steal second, and Jordan picked up his third RBI of the inning when he hit a ground rule double to right, scoring senior Anthony Carbone (Goshen, Conn.).

The Leopards scored single runs in the fourth and sixth innings, as Meucci scored Oggeri on an infield single in the fourth and Bolla doubled home Diodato in the sixth inning to put Wentworth ahead, 9-0.

Newbury scored all of its runs in the eighth inning, using three singles – one an RBI single from sophomore Patrick Curry (Hampstead, N.H.) – and a three-run blast to straightaway center off the bat of sophomore Alex Chetlat (Farmington, Conn.) and trailed, 9-4.  The Leopards got two runs back on RBI singles from junior Brendon Duffy (Lynn, Mass.) and freshman Alex Criscuolo (Hingham, Mass.) in the last of the eighth to round out the scoring.

Meucci, Diodato, and Carbone each recorded a pair of hits, while Cruz scattered nine hits and struck out seven and walked just one to improve to 3-0 on the season.  Carbone became the 10th player in program history to reach the 100-hit plateau.  Senior Matt Vezina (Uxbridge, Mass.) pitched a scoreless ninth, recording two strikeouts.  Shane took the loss (0-2) for the Nighthawks, as he allowed seven runs (four hits) on seven hits in 2.2 innings of work.  Sophomore Joseph Herer (Needham, Mass.) went 3-for-5 on the day, while Chetlat was 2-for-3 with three RBI and senior Hayato Iwahori (Tokyo, Japan) also collected two hits.

With the win Wentworth improves to 17-6 on the year and plays Anna Maria in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference doubleheader on Saturday.  Newbury sees its school best three-game win streak halted, falling to 4-12.  The Nighthawks return to New England Collegiate Conference action on Saturday with a doubleheader at Daniel Webster.