NEW LONDON, Conn. —
The United States Coast Guard Academy baseball team closed out their New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) schedule on Tuesday with an 11-1 mercy-rule victory over Worcester Polytechnic Institute in seven innings.
Coast Guard improves to 14-17 on the season and 7-9 in conference play, while WPI drops to 16-19 overall and 3-11 against NEWMAC foes. The Engineers will play the final non-conference contest of their campaign tomorrow at Tufts University (24-9), before wrapping up their NEWMAC slate and the season by hosting Babson College (20-15, 8-6 NEWMAC) on Saturday.
The win proved crucial for the Bears, allowing them to stay a step ahead of Clark University for the sixth and final spot in the NEWMAC Championship Tournament. Clark improved to 6-8 in the league standings following their own mercy-rule victory over Emerson College. Thanks to a sweep of Coast Guard earlier in the season, the Cougars will need to take just one of two in their upcoming in their upcoming NEWMAC twin bill at Wheaton College to tie the Bears' record and secure the final playoff spot.
Nate Stafford (Jupiter, Fla.) powered Coast Guard's offense by going 3-for-3 with five runs batted in, two walks, and two runs scored. He set the tone in the 1st inning by turning on a pitch to send it down the line and over the fence for a loud 1-0 lead.
Carson Cho (Haymarket, Va.) added another in the 2nd with an RBI single through the left side.
After a scoreless third, Stafford got the Bears in the score column again by driving in two on a 4th inning single.
Max Van Auken (Franklinville, N.J.) followed just a couple of batters later with an RBI single of his own. WPI got one back in the top 5th, but Coast Guard added two in the bottom half thanks to a passed ball with runners on second and third and a Cho sacrifice fly later on.
Another RBI single, this time by
Drew Basque (Kealakekua, Hawaii), in the 6th widened the gap to 8-1. In the 7th, Stafford drove in two with a single and advanced to second on the throw home to make the mercy rule a possibility.
Mason Phillips (Oak Park, Ill.) made it a reality following a Van Auken walk by singling through the left side to bring Stafford around.
The RBI single in the 2nd was Cho's only hit, but he reached base two more times throughout the day behind two walks. The Bears reached base 24 times on the afternoon, with half of those coming from free passes.
Connor Cilento (Point Pleasant, N.J.) benefited the most by walking in all four of his plate appearances, and he took full advantage with four stolen bases and three runs scored.
Alexander Smith (Fairfield, Ohio) earned the win to improve to 3-3 in his freshman campaign. He struck out five Engineers over 4.2 innings of work before turning it over to
Tyler Michalek (Fort Worth, Tex.), who struck out two while finishing the game in a tune-up relief appearance.
Bears baseball will return to Nitchman Field tomorrow for a non-conference meeting with the University of Hartford (19-12-1) at 3:30 PM ET. Coast Guard took a 13-7 victory in last season's game at Dunkin Donuts Park.
