HAVERHILL, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College baseball team opened its season with an 8-3 loss to regionally-ranked Southern Connecticut State University on Saturday, trailing by one run until the Owls scored four times between the seventh and ninth innings. The non-conference contest between the Northeast-10 Conference foes was played at Trinity Stadium, where the teams will meet again for a pair of seven-inning contests on Sunday. The Owls, who were tied for 10th in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Region poll, are 3-5.

Senior George Buteau (Burlington, Vt./Trinity-Pawling School) went 2-for-4 for the Purple Knights, while sophomore Drew Salk (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) and first-year Peter Bocchino (Saugus, Mass./The Governor's Academy) both roped an RBI double while scoring a run in their college debuts. Seniors Nicky Elderton (Shelburne, Vt./Rice Memorial) and Don McGuirl (Warwick, R.I./Saint Sebastian's School) both walked twice, with Elderton swiping a base and McGuirl scoring a run. Sophomore Alex Winkelmann (Gilford, N.H./Tilton School) was saddled with the loss after allowing three earned runs on five hits in five innings, as he fanned four and walked two.

Sophomore McNeill Finnegan (Old Saybrook, Conn./Xavier/Saint Anselm) finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs for Southern Connecticut State, and senior Joe Breen (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North) was 1-for-2 with two RBIs, two walks and a double. Classmate Pat Egan (Aberdeen, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) yielded three runs on three hits over seven innings for the win, striking out nine and walking three, before first-year Griffin Bremer (Higganum, Conn./Haddam-Killingworth) fanned four during a pair of one-hit, shutout frames to claim the save.

Winkelmann stranded a pair of Owls who reached with two down in the first before the teams combined for seven runs in the second inning, with visiting Southern Connecticut State plating the first four. The first five Owls all reached, with junior Jake Lieberman (Commack, N.Y./Commack) and redshirt junior Matt Burns (Cheshire, Conn./Xavier) stroking back-to-back RBI knocks to make it 2-0. An infield error allowed a third run to score, and Breen added a sacrifice fly.

The Purple Knights got three runs back in the home half. McGuirl led off with a walk before Bocchino and Salk both came up with run-scoring doubles in their initial college plate appearances. First-year Aiden Burton (Milford, Conn./Notre Dame) plated Salk on a sac fly during his first collegiate plate appearance, creating a 4-3 deficit.

After Winkelmann left a two-out runner at third base in the third inning, the Purple Knights put runners at the corners with one down in the bottom portion, as Elderton walked and stole second before Buteau's single moved him 90 feet. However, Egan struck out the final two hitters swinging. Saint Michael's was held to one hit over the final six innings.

Sophomore Peter Cross (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) allowed only a one-out RBI double to Breen in the eighth inning during his first three frames of relief, as the Owls nabbed a 5-3 edge, but Saint Michael's remained within striking distance. Buteau poked a two-out knock in the bottom portion before McGuirl walked to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. A throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt moved the runners up one base apiece, but Bremer fanned the final hitter. The Owls tacked on three runs in the ninth, keyed by Finnegan's one-out, two-run single.