By Leah Gauquier:
The Assumption College baseball team faced Merrimack College Wednesday at Rocheleau Field. The game was a blue out and many students and fellow athletes came out in support of the hounds, decked out in blue and white and Assumption gear.
Assumption was looking to stay undefeated in NE10 Divisional play with this game, but lost to Merrimack 19-9. Kyle Autillio, a member of the sophomore class and pitcher, started the game off but only ended up staying in for 2 innings, allowing Merrimack 6 runs.
Assumption did make a few comebacks and one of those was thanks to freshmen Brendan Desautels. He came in and pitched two perfect innings, helping the hounds out of a really tough spot.
During the ninth inning the hounds tried to rally for another major comeback. There were great plays made including when Joe Michael doubled to center field, scoring 2 RBI’s before Dominic Alfono scored for Assumption. More highlights of the game included junior Hunter Tralli finishing 2 for 3 with two runs and Trevor McQuade finishing 1 for 3 with a run, 1 RBI, and 2 walks.
But, the Hounds’ best efforts to get back in the game were not enough. In total Merrimack recorded 19 runs on 20 hits.
After the game I caught up with two of the players, Sophomore Derek Adamson and senior Mike Curtis.
Adamson, a catcher from Chelmsford Ma, stated “It was clearly a tough game, but Merrimack is a solid team and they showed up and we didn’t. Thankfully we have Stonehill tomorrow, so we get a chance to come out and redeem ourselves.”
Curtis, pitcher from Wilmington, MA, said “We didn’t play anywhere close to our potential, and Merrimack wanted it more than us. Those kinds of games happen in baseball and we still have to play them for game 3 of the series, and we still have an opportunity to take the series from them. Next we are playing Stonehill in game one of the divisional series so we have to just let yesterday be yesterday and wipe the slate clean and focus on today’s game.”
After the Merrimack game, the Assumption Baseball team remains in a three way tie for first place with Franklin Pierce and Southern New Hampshire. What’s next for the hounds? They are playing Franklin Pierce in a three game series at home in what could be a pivotal weekend of baseball.
THE AC301 