Offense explodes in 18-2 victory over Northeastern

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Freshman Justin Snyder (Georgetown, Mass.) allowed just one run over five innings and the Bryant University baseball team exploded for 18 runs on 13 hits in an 18-2 victory over Northeastern on Wednesday afternoon at Conaty Park.

The Bulldogs (6-11) opened their home season in resounding fashion, scoring a run in each of their final six at-bats to defeat the Huskies (10-16) for the fifth-straight time in the all-time series. Bryant also ran its own winning streak to four games.

Making his second career start, Snyder was the beneficiary of Bryant's offensive explosion on Wednesday and earned his first-career win. The rookie lefthander allowed just one run on five hits, struck out two and didn't walk a batter over a season-high five innings. Three singles led to a Northeastern run in the second but Snyder induced an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. Snyder's afternoon came to a positive close in the fifth as sophomore shortstop Jacob Marotta (Bridgewater, Mass.) made a great play up the middle to start an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the third, the Bulldogs awoke offensively. Making his first-career start in center field, sophomore Joseph Paparelli (Preston, Conn.) opened the third by battling back from 0-2 down to draw a walk. Marotta moved him to second with a sac bunt and classmate Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) hit a slicing fly ball to right that fell out of the reach of a diving Joey Scambia and resulted in an RBI triple, tying the game at 1-1. Senior Jordan Mountford (Guelph, Ont.) hit a sac fly on the very next pitch to give the Black and Gold a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

After posting a run in the fourth on an AJ Zarozny (Shrewsbury, Mass.) fielder's choice, Bryant scored five two-out runs in the fifth. Mountford and junior Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) earned back-to-back two-out walks to start the rally and junior Robby Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) followed with an RBI single to right field. Another walk loaded the bases and Zarozny followed with a sharp two-run single to right-center. Sophomore Brandon Bingel (Peabody, Mass.) capped the outburst with a two-run knock up the middle to make it 8-1.

Bryant stretched its lead with two runs in the sixth, six in the seventh and two more in the eighth. In the sixth, Mountford walked with one out and came home two batters later as Rinn deposited an 0-2 pitch over the fence in right field for his second home run of the season.

In the seventh, the Black and Gold took advantage of six walks to score seven runs. Three-straight walks opened the inning and Fabio and Mountford roped consecutive two-run doubles to make it 14-2. The final two runs of the inning came home when senior Colin Walsh (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Paparelli walked with the bases loaded.

The Bulldogs completed their scoring in the eighth thanks to a two-out fielding error. Zarozny's ground ball to third was misplayed allowing the first run to score and the final run crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

Junior James Davitt (Wallingford, Conn.) came on in the sixth for Bryant and allowed just one run on three hits over three innings. The righty struck out two and walked one batter. Senior Alex Lagos (Wrentham, Mass.) pitched a perfect ninth inning to close the door.

Bryant received multi-hit efforts from four different players, while four players drove in three runs apiece. Rinn had a big day, going 3-for-4 with three RBI and a career-high four runs scored. Mountford went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a career-high tying four runs scored. He extended his on-base streak to 13 games and picked up two doubles for the second-straight game. Fabio (2-6, 3RBI, 2R) and senior John Mullen (Walpole, Mass.) (2-2, 1BB, 1HBP) each had two hits. Zarozny finished with three RBI, Bingel drove in two and Paparelli collected his first career hit and finished 1-for-2 with three walks, an RBI and two runs scored.  

The Bulldogs head to Philadelphia, Pa., this weekend for three games. They play St. Joseph's on Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. before taking on Villanova at 3:00 p.m. Friday and 1:15 p.m. Saturday.