Northup Leads Mountaineers over Nighthawks
BENNINGTON, Vt. - The Southern Vermont College Mountaineers (5-6 1-0NECC) baseball team started NECC action Friday afternoon at Bill Epstein field with a 10-1 victory over the Newbury College Nighthawks (1-12 0-1NECC). Junior captain Adam Northup (1-3) got the start on the hill for the Mountaineers pitching to his first victory this season.
Northup threw seven innings of shutout ball allowed five hits, walked two, and struck out three. Northup kept the Nighthawks off balance all afternoon as he never allowed more than two base runners in any inning and finished his outing strong striking out two of the last three batters he faced.
“Adam gave us a strong start as a leader on the mound and we swung the bats very well behind him” stated Head Coach Don Schaffer
The Mountaineers indeed gave Northup all the run support he needed. Six players finished the day with multi-hit games and Southern Vermont had seven extra base hits. Captain Dave Gage led the Mountaineers with two doubles, two runs scored, and two RBIs on the afternoon. Fellow captain Dan Cook also had a double while going 1-3.
Sophomores Eric Wells and Pat Warrington continued their hot hitting going 2-4 and 2-5 respectively. Warrington had a triple and two RBIs while Wells had a double and one RBI. Joel DeFedele, Max Ginter, and Brett Pawlak also finished the afternoon with multi-hit games.
Southern Vermont opened the game up scoring one in the first and five in the second frame to lead 6-0 after two innings. The second inning was highlighted with a Cook double, Keith Diotte double, followed by a double by Gage, and concluded with a Warrington triple. Diotte finished the day 1-3 with two RBIs.
Newbury College’s Agib Shah went 1-2 with the lone RBI on the afternoon. Shah was joined in the hit column by teammates Joseph Guidi (1-3), Justin MacCutcheon (1-3), Russell DeMatties (1-3), and Michael Marcelynas (1-1). Much of Newbury’s offense came late in the game as they managed two hits and two walks in the final frame resulting in their only run.
Michael Gulla received the start on the mound for the Nighthawks. Gulla pitched five innings allowed seven runs on nine hits and one walk dropping to 0-1 on the season.
Southern Vermont and Newbury will play games two and three of the conference three game set Saturday afternoon at Bill Epstein field with the first pitch of game one scheduled for noon.
