NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.- The Pace baseball team fell 9-6 in the opening game against the Warriors of Merrimack College, and 5-0 in the night cap of conference action at the Warrior baseball diamond on Saturday. The Setters drop to 16-9 overall and 7-4 in the Northeast-10 Conference while the Warriors improve to 18-6 overall and 4-0 in the conference.
The Setters opened the day with a five run first inning that enabled the Setters to create a healthy lead to start. Chris Gili (Manorville, NY/Eastport-South Manor) (Manorville, NY / Eastport-South Manor) walked, stole second and advanced to third on a single by Michael Viegas (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) (Staten Island, NY / Monsignor Farrell). Charlie Galasso (West Harrison, NY/Harrison) (West Harrison, NY / Harrison) singled to right to bring Gili home and advance Viegas to second before Galasso and Viegas both stole bases to put them in scoring position. James Pjura (Shelton, CT/Shelton) (Shelton, CT / Shelton) cleared the bases on a single to right center for two RBI's and then stole second. Joe Solomeno (Holbrook , NY/Sachem East) (Holbrook , NY / Sachem East) came to the plate swinging a double that brought Pjura home and prompted a pitcher change for the Warriors. An Ian Wukitsch (Morristown, NJ/Morristown) (Morristown, NJ / Morristown) single advanced Solomeno to third before a single from Bobby Horn (Stamford, CT/Westhill) (Stamford, CT / Westhill) brought him home for the last run of the inning.
Merrimack responded with two runs in the second inning and one in the bottom of the third before seeing four runs on four hits in the fourth inning that gave them the lead, 7-5. Merrimack tacked on another run in the fifth before the Solomeno caught Alan Pastyrnak stealing second base for the final out of the inning.
Solomeno doubled in the seventh and was driven home by Wukitsch for the Setters final run of the game. The Warriors matched that run in the bottom of the seventh to solidify their win, 9-6.
Pjura went 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBI's and one run while Solomeno went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Neil Pezzullo (Harwich, MA/Harwich) (Harwich, MA / Harwich) struck out six batters in six and a half innings pitched while Josh Garran (Old Tappan, NJ/Northern Valley Regional) (Old Tappan, NJ / Northern Valley Regional) came in as relief and struck out one.
Junior Vasquez received the win for the Warriors having pitched a little over five innings and struck out seven. Joe Mantoni tallied his fourth save of the season.
Merrimack started the scoring of the nightcap in the bottom of the first as they saw three runs on three hits. They added another run in the second to go up 4-0 on the Setters. They saw their final run of the game in the eighth inning to take the second game 5-0.
Galasso, Pjura, Brandon Martineson (Prospect, KY/Warwick (NY)) (Prospect, KY / Warwick NY) and Paul Iasiello (Westborough, Mass/Westborough) (Westborough, Mass / Westborough) all tallied hits for the Setters in the nightcap. Tim Deegan (Levittown, NY/Kellenberg Memorial) (Levittown, NY / Kellenberg Memorial) took his first loss on the mound after a total of 38 strikes on 58 pitches in four innings. Josh Grant (Corning, NY / Corning Painted Post West) threw for just over three innings followed by Garran who wrapped the game up.
Joe Carnevale took the win for the Warriors as he saw all four hits but struck out nine batters and walked just two.
The Setters will travel to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell tomorrow, April 7 for a conference doubleheader starting at 12 pm.
