Novakowski's Blast Helps Lead Baseball Past Merrimack, 9-2
IN BASEBALL ACTION THURSDAY
Box Score
SMITHFIELD, RI - Freshman shortstop Jason Alexander
(Simsbury, Conn.) went 4-for-4 while junior Paul
Novakowski (Prospect, Conn.) added a pair of hits -
including his first home run of the season - to help lead the
Bryant University baseball team to a 9-2 win over visiting
Merrimack College Thursday afternoon at the Bryant Baseball
Complex.
The win snaps a five-game losing skid for the Bulldogs as they
improve to 18-16 on the season, 12-10 in the Northeast-10.
Merrimack drops to 6-25 overall (5-15 NE-10).
After a scoreless first, the Bulldogs pushed across a pair of runs
in the second as Chris Brown
(Norwalk,
Conn.) drilled a two-out double
to left and later came around to score on a Chad
Valenti
(Glastonbury,
Conn.) base hit to left.
The Bulldogs would make it 2-0 as Chris Neil
(Cambridge,
Mass.) scored from third on a
double steal.
The Bulldogs would add another run in the third as Novakowski
blasted a solo home run to straight-away center with two outs in
the inning. The runs would be enough for starter Matt
Gaynor (Hyde Park,
N.Y.) who pitched eight strong
innings to improve to 5-2 on the season.
Merrimack would score a pair of runs in the top of the seventh
on RBI singles from Andrew Richardson (North Reading, Mass.) and
Ryan Shepard (Andover, Mass.).
Bryant will host Stonehill College on Friday at 3:30 p.m. Merrimack
will host Southern N.H. for a doubleheader.
Bryant University
9, Merrimack 2
April 28, 2005 at
Smithfield,
RI
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Merrimack........... 000 000
200 - 2 9 3
(6-25, 5-15)
Bryant University... 021 010 41X - 9 14
0 (18-16, 12-10)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Merrimack - Smith, C; DeMasse, B(5); Richardson,A(7) and
Edler.
Bryant University - Gaynor; Cowan(9) and Neil.
Win-Gaynor(4-2) Loss-Smith, C(2-3) T-2:32
A-86
HR: B - Novakowski (1).
DeMasse, B faced 3 batters in the 7th.