Colby College Baseball wins thriller behind Connelly’s pitching

WATERVILLE, Maine — Jake Connelly ’16 pitched six masterful innings of relief and Andrew Currier ’16 drove home Soren Hanson ’16 with the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Colby College’s 5-4 non-conference baseball win over Husson University on Tuesday night.

The Mules, now 10-15 overall, were playing the first-ever night game at the new Coombs Field. Husson dropped to 15-13 overall. The Mules have won five of the last six games.

 

Connelly and Hanson were the difference makers for the Mules, who had no errors on the night. Connelly started the fourth inning, allowed just four hits, struck out two batters, and walked none while inheriting a 4-2 deficit.

 

Hanson had four of Colby’s 10 hits, drove in two runs, and scored twice. Currier finished with a pair of hits and two RBI, while Benjamin Crocker ’16 had two hits and drove in a run. Ryan Quinn ’19 and Matt Treveloni ’18 both had one hit and one run.

 

JT Whitten led Husson with three hits, while Julien Boone and Alex Chapman each had two hits. Mike Wong drove in a pair of runs with a single. Andrew Curran, Zach Sugar, and Christian Corneil all had one hit and scored one run.

 

Hanson singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Currier followed and smacked a shot to the gap in left center field, allowing Hanson to make it home from first base.

 

Hanson started and ended the game strong. After a one-out walk to Tommy Forese ’16, Hanson blasted a two-run homer over the 380-foot sign in center field for a 2-0 lead after one inning.

 

The Eagles bounced right back and scored all four of their runs in the top of the second. Sugar led off with a single and Husson received back-to-back walks from Sam Huston and Corneil to load the bases. After a strikeout, Curran brought home Sugar with an RBI single and Wong followed with a two-run single for a 3-2 lead. Boone had a sacrifice fly to bring in Curran with the fourth run.

 

Connelly completely turned the game around with his effective pitching and allowed the Mules to chip away at the lead.

 

Quinn led off the Colby fifth inning with a double, but the Eagles got the next two outs. A passed ball pushed Quinn to third base and he scored on Currier’s single to make it 4-3.

 

Treveloni had a one-out walk in the sixth inning and made a key steal of second base. After a second out, Crocker singled to plate Treveloni with the tying run.

 

While Hanson’s four hits led all batters, his defense at first base also helped the Mules. He had a number of stretches and pick-ups at first base to keep Husson runners of the bases.

 

Colby (3-3 in NESCAC) opens a big series at Tufts University on Friday at 3 p.m. The two teams play a doubleheader at noon Saturday.

 

Colby 5, Husson 4

Husson    040#000#000—4#11#1

Colby       200#011#001—5#10#0

 

Robert Graff, Austin Smith (4), AJ Purcell (6), Joe Skoczylas (8), Steven Hanscom (9, L) and Sam Huston. Matt Garcia, Jake Connelly (W) and Andrew Della Volpe. 2B: Ryan Quinn (Colby), Andrew Currier (Colby). HR: Soren Hanson (Colby).

 

Recap courtesy of Colby College.