No. 14/22 SNHU Breezes Past Molloy, 9-2, in NCAA East Regional Title Game
RINDGE, N.H. (June 1, 2021) -- Junior right-hander Jeffrey Praml struck out six over eight innings of two-run ball and a three-run seventh broke things open on Tuesday afternoon at Pappas Field, as top seed and No. 14/22 nationally ranked Southern New Hampshire laid claim to its third NCAA East Regional title. The Penmen used a 9-2 win over third-seeded Molloy to finish off the oft-delayed but eventually-finished regional tournament, hosted by Franklin Pierce. Graduate student Marcus Chavez went 4-for-5 and drove in five in the title-clincher.
With the win, SNHU improves to 28-7 and adds a third regional trophy to its collection, to go with the ones from 2012 and 2018. The Penmen will head to Cary, N.C., for the NCAA Championship finals, which are set to begin on Saturday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. With the loss, Molloy sees its season come to a close at 25-11.
Clinging to a 3-2 lead, the Penmen struck for the East Region title with three in the seventh and three more in the eighth. In the seventh, singles from freshmen Danniel Rivera and Christian Mercedes, plus a pair of stolen bases, set the table for graduate student Marcus Chavez, who laced a two-run single back up the middle. Chavez would eventually score on an error later in the inning.
In the eighth, a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for Mercedes, who lifted a sacrifice fly to center. Chavez provided the exclamation mark, as he went the other way and drilled a two-run ground-rule double the other way into the gap in right-center.
Meanwhile, Praml (7-2) faced just 30 batters over eight innings of two-run ball on the hill. He threw 98 pitches (65 strikes) allowed five hits, walked two, hit a batter and struck out six.
On the other side, it took Molloy six pitchers to get through the proceedings. Graduate student right-hander Joe Minucci (2-2) threw the first 2.2 frames, allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and suffered the loss.