QUINCY, Mass. - The Eastern Nazarene baseball team posted six runs in the fourth and five runs in the seventh en route to a 14-1 non-conference win over Gordon College on Friday afternoon. The game marked the culmination of the season for the Lions and the career finale for seven ENC seniors, who went out in style, posting season highs in runs scored (14), hits (17), RBI’s (12), total bases (24) and strikeouts (17) in Friday’s game.  
 
“I am proud of our seniors,” head coach B.J. Hampton said. “As a first year head coach, I couldn't have asked for a better group of leaders.”
 
Senior Jeremy Cook (Hatfield, Pa.) started the game strong for the Lions, posting a trio of strikeouts in both the first and second innings to give his ENC squad momentum on senior day.
 
The Bronxite’s represented in the second inning, as senior Danny Rodriguez smashed a ground rule double and used keen base-running to take third on a wild pitch by Gordon pitcher junior John Kanas (East Moriches, N.Y.). Fellow senior and Bronx native Johan Villalona brought Rodriguez home with a sacrifice fly to right to give the Lions the 1-0 edge.
 
Senior Steve Doyle (Weymouth, Mass.) kept it rolling in the third, knocking in sophomore Anthony Berroa (Teaneck, N.J.) with a double to deep right to extend the ENC lead.
 
The Fighting Scots reached base in the fourth via a single from junior Brian Harrington (Shoreham, N.Y.) who quickly stole second and third, but his teammate senior Kris Camelio (Lexington, Mass.), who walked, wasn’t so lucky as senior George Williams (Thornwood, N.Y.) threw him out trying to take second and Cook struck out freshman James Burrell (Decatur, Ga.) to get the Lions out of the inning unscarred.
 
The Lions went big in the fourth, as Williams and Villalona managed base hits, and were moved over by freshman E.J. Estrada (Alpharetta, Ga.) on a ground out to short. This brought senior Ben Bergeron (Rochester, Mass.) to the plate who secured an RBI with a knock down the left field line to score Williams. Freshman Rocco Martinelli (Panama City, Panama) walked next and Doyle drew a walk with the bases loaded to claim an RBI of his own. Next at the plate was sophomore Max Pugh (San Diego, Calif.) who caused the crowd to erupt as he cleared the bases, launching a grand slam to put the Lions up 8-0.
 
Cook posted three more K’s in the next inning, bringing his total to 12 strikeouts through five innings.
 
Senior Eric Wolak (Trumbull, Conn.) led off the sixth with a single for Gordon and stole second, setting the table for Burrell, who collected a single to right to put the Fighting Scots on the scoreboard at 8-1.
 
Pugh picked up his fifth RBI of the contest with a single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth, knocking in Berroa who led off the inning with a double and was pushed over on a Doyle groundout. Rodriguez would single, claiming his third hit of the game but was left stranded as the inning came to a close with the Lions up 9-1.
 
Cook’s focus would not be broken as his pitch count increased, getting through the Gordon lineup quickly in the top of the seventh.
 
The Lions’ bats rewarded their hurler’s effort, putting together a huge seventh inning that began with a Villalona walk and was followed by an Estrada single through left side. Next came a Martinelli single to center. Berroa then reached on an error by the GC third baseman which allowed Villalona and Estrada to score. Eastern Nazarene was not finished, as Doyle’s second hit of the contest brought Martinelli home to give the Lions a 12-1 advantage. Pugh collected his final RBI of the evening with a single to short, and Rodriguez completed his effort with a single to left. Williams took home the inning’s final RBI to put the home team up 14-1.
 
Back-to-back singles from GC’s Wolak and Harrington and a Camelio walk to load bases prompted a visit to the mound from the ENC skipper, and Cook settled, wanting to finish what he started. He struck out the next two Fighting Scots to get ENC out of the inning with its 14-1 lead intact.
 
Harrington and Wolak led the Fighting Scots with two hits apiece. Freshman Carlos Pichardo (La Romana, Dominican Rep.) was responsible for a hit while Burrell went 1-3 with Gordon’s lone RBI.
 
Cook finished the game how he started, dominant, and earned the complete game win. He struck out a season-high 17 Gordon batters and gave up just six hits. In his final collegiate game, Cook threw an impressive 166 pitches, 101 of which were strikes. 
 
Kanas (0-6) took the loss, throwing 3.2 innings and surrendering 8 earned runs. 
 
Every ENC batter garnered a hit in the contest. Rodriguez led the bunch, going 4-5 with a double and three singles. Doyle, who finishes the year with a team-leading .396 batting average, went 2-3 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI’s for the Lions. Fellow seniors Williams, Villalona and Bergeron each posted a hit and an RBI, respectively, in the final game of their ENC careers.
 
Pugh went 3-5 with 6 RBI’s to record the 2012 team record for most RBI’s in a single game. Also tallying three hits was Berroa who went 3-5 with 3 runs scored. Martinelli rounded out the order at 1-4 with 2 runs scored for the Lions. 
 
Senior Khaleeq Sheppard (Manhattan, N.Y.) was also honored prior to the game for his contributions to ENC baseball. 
 
Gordon is set to host Western New England on April 28th in a doubleheader beginning at 12:00p.m.

Release courtesy of ENC sports information.