MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Michael's College baseball team left the tying run at third base in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss in game two of a doubleheader at No. 24 Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday after also falling in the opener, 5-0, at Penmen Field. The Purple Knights are now 6-17 overall and 2-10 in the Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division, with eight losses coming by three runs or less. Southern New Hampshire, which qualified for the past two NCAA Tournaments and is ranked nationally by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), is 20-7 and 6-2.

In game one, first-year Aiden Burton (Milford, Conn./Notre Dame) was 1-for-2 with a walk for Saint Michael's while catching a pair of runners stealing, while seniors Michael Dougherty (Albany, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/Schenectady County CC) and Don McGuirl (Warwick, R.I./Saint Sebastian's School) both had a hit. Junior Curt Echo (Shelburne, Vt./Champlain Valley Union) allowed the first four runs, though only two were earned, over seven innings, as he struck out three and walked four. First-year Morgan Wilson (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township Senior) retired three of the four batters he faced as the second reliever.

Graduate student Mike Montville (Portsmouth, N.H./Portsmouth/Maryland) was 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBIs, a walk and a home run for Southern New Hampshire, junior Ryan Gendron (Nashua, N.H./Nashua South/UMass Lowell) went 2-for-3, and senior Alejandro Diaz (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) finished 2-for-4 with a run and two steals. Graduate student David Gibson (Hanover, Mass./Hanover) tossed the three-hit shutout, striking out six and walking two.

The Penmen scored three runs in the first inning, all with two out, with only one earned. Montville's RBI single broke the scoreless deadlock, and two more runs came home on an infield error. First-year Peter Bocchino (Saugus, Mass./The Governor's Academy) led off the Saint Michael's third by reaching on an error but was erased by an inning-ending double play, and Montville made it 4-0 with a leadoff homer in the home half.

McGuirl and Burton both singled in the fifth, but another twin killing by Southern New Hampshire ended that threat, and Burton walked to lead off the seventh before the Penmen turned an inning-ending double play. Sophomore Zach Goldstein's (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun) sacrifice fly plated an insurance run in the eighth.

Senior George Buteau (Burlington, Vt./Trinity-Pawling School) was 3-for-4 with a run and his school-record 11th double of the season for the Purple Knights in the nightcap. First-year Zach Szczechowicz (Epping, N.H./Trinity) was 1-for-2 with a walk, and Elderton added a hit, a run and a walk. Junior John Mielke (Boxboro, Mass./Acton-Boxboro Regional) allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on six hits in 6.1 innings to take the loss.

Goldstein was 1-for-3 with two runs, an RBI, two walks and a home run for the Penmen, and Montville was 1-for-1 with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Sophomore Alex Person (Foxboro, Mass./Xaverian) tossed four innings of two-hit, shutout baseball to nab the win, striking out four versus zero walks.

Southern New Hampshire got on the board first, with Mielke pitching around a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the first inning by allowing just one run, on Diaz's groundout. Saint Michael's responded with three runs on two hits and an error in the top of the second. Junior Alex Holt (Framingham, Mass./Marian) drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the tying run, McGuirl scored on a double play, and Elderton came home on a wild pitch.

Two of the first three Penmen reached in the bottom half but were left at the corners, but Diaz came home on a two-out error in the third to bring his team within 3-2. Mielke again left runners at the corners in the fifth before Goldstein led off the seventh with a tying home run. Later in the frame, with two outs and runners at the corners, Montville took off to steal second and sophomore Carson Helms (Farmington, Conn./Farmington/Virginia Tech) swiped home. Southern New Hampshire loaded the bases with two down in the eighth, but first-year Colin Brennan (Braintree, Mass./Boston College HS) came out of the bullpen for just his third career appearance, inducing an inning-ending fly ball off of the bat of the lone batter he faced.

Down 4-3 in the ninth, Saint Michael's received a leadoff single through the right side by Buteau to put the tying run on base. McGuirl's sac bunt pushed Buteau into scoring position, and Elderton's groundout advanced him 90 more feet to third base. However, Person recorded his final strikeout on the game's last batter.

The Purple Knights host the College of Saint Joseph (Vt.) tomorrow for a 3 p.m. doubleheader, with the squads set to play a pair of seven-inning affairs. The Fighting Saints are ranked eighth in this week's United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national poll.