Baseball rallies to 13-6 win over Eastern Nazarene

(Northborough, Mass.) The Rivier University Baseball team returned to the cold, wintery New England fields with their red hot bats as they earned their second win in a row this afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Mass. The Raiders lashed out 13 hits en route to a 13-6 defeat of Eastern Nazarene College.

The top of the Rivier batting order did most of the damage in the ballgame. Senior JJ Montello (Nashua, N.H.) led the game off with his first collegiate Home Run as he finished the afternoon going 2-for-6 with 2 RBI. Classmate David Cusack (Newburyport, Mass.) would provide the extra cushion in the 9th as he lifted a fly ball to deep right center that plated a pair of runs in his 2-for-6 showing at the dish. Junior Taylor Black (West Springfield, Mass.) gave the Raiders the lead for good in the 6th inning as he belted his first career home run – a three run homer – to left. Black finished the game with 4 RBI in a 4-for-5 performance.

Senior Lucas Palma (Bristol, Conn.) was efficient through his five innings of work as he allowed five runs (all earned) on nine hits with a pair of strikeouts. Palma was able to induce 8 groundouts in the ballgame. Junior Matthew Keefe (Bradford, Mass.) recorded his first career save as he finished off the game with three innings of relief surrendering just one run while striking out seven.

Rivier will return to the diamond this Saturday night as they travel down to Waldorf, Maryland for a pair of games against Gallaudet University (3/21 @ 7pm) and Saint Mary's College (3/22 @ 12pm).