THE BASICS

Game 1 Score: Emerson 14, Coast Guard 8

Game 2 Score: Coast Guard 15, Emerson 7

Game 1 Pitching Decision: W - Bryan Simmons-Hayes (1-0) ; L - Mark Stutts (1-1)

Game 2 Pitching Decision: W - Nate Ralph ; L - Johnny Maffei (0-2)

Location: Northboro, Mass. (New England Baseball Complex - Field 1)

Date: March 27, 2021 

The Lead: In the Emerson baseball team's home finale of the 2021 season, home runs were the way in the Lions' first victory of the season in an 14-8 win before dropping the nightcap, 15-7, on Saturday afternoon in NEWMAC baseball action. 

GAME ONE: Emerson 14, Coast Guard 8

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

EMERSON LEADERS

Thai Morgan: 3-for-6, solo home run, two runs scored, two RBI

Joe Colucci: 2-for-3, three-run home run, two runs scored, three RBI, stolen base

Quinton Copeland: 3-for-4, two-run home run, two runs scored, two RBI

Josh Cohen: 3-for-5, one run scored, one RBI

Louie Davolio: 1-for-6, two RBI, stolen base

Ryan McCahan: 1-for-5, two runs scored, one RBI

Matt Nachamie: 2-for-5, two runs scored, three RBI

Pitching: AJ Ortega (ND) - 5.0 IP, seven hits, six runs, three walks, two strikeouts

Benny Guevara - 2.0 IP, two hits, two runs, one walk, three strikeouts

Simmons-Hayes (W, 1-0) - 2.0 IP, three hits, two strikeouts 

COAST GUARD LEADERS

Justin Stasiak: 3-for-4, three doubles, one run scored, three RBI

Nate Nam - 2-for-3, home run, one run scored, two RBI

Cody Fidler - 2-for-4, home run, two runs scored, two RBI

Pitching: PJ Gravalec - 3.0 IP, nine hits, seven runs (three earned), one walk, one strikeout

Dan Wolf - 2.0 IP, two hits, one walk

Mark Stutts (L, 1-1) - 3.0 IP, seven hits, seven runs (three earned), one walk, three strikeouts

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• • The Emerson bats took off early with its scoring beginning right in the opening frame when Morgan used the long ball to give the Lions an early 1-0 lead that was lifted to a 2-0 advantage after Cohen singled in Calvin Jacey in the second inning. 
• • After McCahan began the home half of the third reaching on a Bears' defensive mishap, the hosts took advantage of the mistakes thanks to Colucci taking Gravalec very deep over the left field fence for a three-run bomb and upped the Lions' lead to 7-0. 
• • However, Coast Guard made its way back into the game with two doubles and three home runs spread through the fourth to eighth frames. In the top half of eighth, the visitors claimed its first and only lead behind an RBI double by Stasiak to go up 8-7. 
• • It did not take Emerson long to snatch the lead once and for all in a busy seven-run bottom of the eighth. After Morgan batted in Cohen for the equalizer, Copeland rocketed a two-run homer to propel the Lions to a lead they would not surrender at 10-8. 
• • Nacahamie knocked in another pair of runs on an RBI single up the middle (12-8) that was followed by another two-run RBI single that Davolio send into right (14-8). 
• • Lions' pitching surrendered a pair of singles in the top of the ninth to reignite the Bears' comeback hopes, but Simmons-Hayes sent the final batter down on strikes to seal the win. 

GAME TWO: Coast Guard 15, Emerson 7

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

EMERSON LEADERS

Padovani: 2-for-4, double, two RBI

Jake Hatch: 2-for-3, home run, double, three runs scored, one RBI

Pitching: Maffei (0-2) - 1.0 IP, eight hits, five runs, one walk

Chris Lowe - 3.1 IP, nine hits, four runs, one walk, one strikeout

Josh Caltabiano - 1.2 IP, three hits, four runs, one strikeout

Copeland - 2.0 IP, one hit, one run, two strikeouts

Logan Reilly - 1.0 IP, one hit, one strikeout 

COAST GUARD LEADERS

John Carroll: 4-for-6, double, two RBI

Greg Boland: 2-for-5, double, two runs scored, three RBI

Tom Ankers: 3-for-6, double, three runs scored, two RBI

Blake Carroll: 2-for-5, double, one run scored, two RBI

Pitching: Nate Ralph - 4.1 IP, five hits, four runs (three earned), two walks, four strikeouts

Michael Gilmore - 1.1 IP, three hits, one hit, one run, one walk, four strikeouts

Lukas Caskey - 2.1 IP, one hit, one run, one walk, three strikeouts

Jack McNiff - 1.0 IP, one run, one walk, one strikeout

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• • Coast Guard mirrored Emerson's game one start with a big first inning and crossed home five times behind two doubles, a pair of RBI singled and a wild pitch for the 5-0 lead. 
• • Emerson earned two more runs back and cut the lead to three after Hatch came plated on a Bears' defensive error followed by a ground out from Nachamie that brought in Copeland. (5-2)
• • It was a tough fifth for the Lions as pitching surrendered five runs that allowed the visitors to extend its lead to 10-2. 

• Over the bottom halves of the fifth and sixth frames, Emerson gained some ground on Coast Guard to cut the scored in half at 10-5. Rory Tettemer batted his RBI double in center for the three Lions run (10-3) followed by Padovani's RBI single that landed into the right-center gap (10-4). Padovani went to work again in the sixth when he doubled in Cohen for the fifth Lions run. (10-5). 

• • Coast Guard put up five more runs within the seventh and eighth frames to build onto its lead yet again (14-5) behind a pair of RBI doubles and grounder. 
• • The Lions recorded two runs in the remaining two innings. In the eighth, Hatch launched a solo homer over the left field fence (15-6) before a ninth inning that had the Lions tallying its final run on a wild pitch. 

UP NEXT 

• Emerson hits the road for its first road tilt of 2021 when they head out to Clark on April 3rd with a 12:00 p.m. first pitch.