NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College baseball team scored three times in the top of the ninth inning to take game two of a doubleheader from regionally-ranked Merrimack College, 5-3, on Sunday at Warrior Diamond after falling in the opener, 10-3. The Purple Knights are now 6-15 overall and 2-8 in the Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division, while Merrimack, which is fourth in the latest New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) poll, is 12-11 and 4-6.

Senior George Buteau (Burlington, Vt./Trinity-Pawling School) was 2-for-4 with a run and two doubles during the opener for the Purple Knights, tying a program record with 10 doubles on the season. Junior Matt Feeney (Portsmouth, N.H./Portsmouth) added an RBI double, classmate Alex Holt (Framingham, Mass./Marian) knocked a pinch-hit RBI single, and sophomore Drew Salk (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) scored a run, drove in another, walked and had an outfield assist. Classmate Dylan Lavery (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) allowed seven earned runs in six innings.

Junior Sean O'Neill (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) was 4-for-5 with four RBIs and a double for Merrimack, and classmate Frank Crinella (East Longmeadow, Mass./Cathedral) finished 2-for-3 with three runs and two walks. Senior Joe Carnevale (East Providence, R.I./East Providence) fanned eight while allowing two runs on six hits in eight frames.

O'Neill's RBI groundout put the game's first run on the board in the opening inning, but Salk countered with an RBI groundout in the second before Feeney's two-out RBI double put the Purple Knights ahead 2-1 in the third. O'Neill's two-out run-scoring knock tied the game in the home half before Crinella put Merrimack on top to stay when he scored from third while a Warrior was caught in a rundown later in the frame. The Warriors added three runs on four hits, including three straight RBI hits, in the fifth, and they plated four more between the sixth and eighth. Salk led off the ninth with a walk and scored the game's final run on Holt's one-out pinch-hit single.

Salk went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a double in the nightcap, and senior Michael Dougherty (Albany, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/Schenectady County CC) was also 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Classmate Nicky Elderton (Shelburne, Vt./Rice Memorial) went 1-for-2 with a run, a double and his program-record 71st career walk. The double was the 27th of his career, tying another school mark. Sophomore Alex Winkelmann (Gilford, N.H./Tilton School) scattered 10 hits while yielding two runs, but only one earned, in eight innings to pick up the win. He did not strike out a batter, but he picked off three runners. Senior Will Corkum (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) allowed one run on one hit in the ninth inning to earn his third career save.

Junior Bobby Losanno (Peabody, Mass./Peabody) was 3-for-4 for Merrimack, and sophomore Ryan Petrone (Leicester, Mass./Leicester) finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. First-year Cam LaFleur (Brookline, N.H./Hollis Brookline) took the loss after allowing four runs, all unearned, during four innings of relief.

O'Neill's two-out RBI double in the third inning plated the first run of the second game, but Elderton led off the fifth with a double before scoring the tying run on first-year Peter Bocchino's (Saugus, Mass./The Governor's Academy) RBI grounder. After the first two Warriors reached in the home half, Winkelmann started a ground-ball double play before getting the final batter to ground out.

Merrimack snapped the tie on Petrone's two-out RBI single in the sixth, but Saint Michael's knotted the contest once more in the top of the next frame when senior Don McGuirl (Warwick, R.I./Saint Sebastian's School) came home on an error. Winkelmann pitched around a two-out, bases-loaded situation in the eighth, and the Purple Knights scored three unearned runs with two down in the ninth. Dougherty came through with the tie-breaking RBI single before Salk added a two-run knock. Sophomore Cam DiSarcina's (Shirley, Mass./Groton School) one-out RBI double made it 5-3 in the home half, but Corkum retired the final two batters, both of which represented the potential tying run, to clinch the victory.

The Purple Knights head to Southern New Hampshire for a twinbill on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. The Penmen are receiving votes toward the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) national poll, coming within one vote of being ranked. Southern New Hampshire qualified for the past three NCAA Tournaments.