Northern Essex completed a doubleheader sweep vs The community college of Rhode Island on April 15th at Trinity stadium by scores of 6-1 and 5-4. The Knights improve to (20-5) and CCRI falls to (14-11).
Each Knights starting pitchers, Tristan Ciampa (6-0) and Jagger Lovinelli (4- 1) picked up the wins. At the plate, Richard De La Cruz of Boston, MA continued his impressive season collecting a team high of five RBIs.
Game one: Knights 6, CCRI 1
Tristan Ciampa pitcher tossed a seven-inning complete game gem. He struck out nine, allowed three hits and one unearned in the outing.
The Knights struck first offensively. In the third inning Kameron Levesque of Haverhill, MA hit a leadoff triple to left field. A pair of walks loaded the bases. Anthony Marcano of Boston, MA smashed a fly ball to left field to bring in a run on a sac fly. De la Cruz followed up with an RBI single up the middle to push The Knights advantage to two. The Knights would add another run in the inning to lead 3-0.
CCRI’s lone run scored on a wild pitch with a runner on third in the top of the sixth inning, 3-1.
The Knights’ bats got back to work in the in their half of the inning pushing three runs across the plate. Jomar Moreta of Lynn, MA hit a leadoff single to right field. Moreta advanced to second on a stollen base. Domenic Cocenzie of North Providence, RI reached first base on a hit by a pitch. Cooper Smith of Bloomington, MN drove Moreta with an RBI double to center field. De La Cruz scored his second RBI of the evening with a single to right center. The Knights would tack on another run to stretch their lead to five.
Campina would take the mound again in the seventh inning to finish what he started. He retired CCRI in order for the 6-1 opener victory.
Game two: Knights 5, CCRI 4
Game two was a much closer affair. The Knights edged out CCRI 5-4 with a solid bullpen performance and just enough needed offense.
Knights starter, Jagger Lovinelli of Huntington beach, CA struggled. Lovinelli’s pitches often caught too much of the plate resulting in consistent hard contact. He surrendered five runs on eight hits and three walks over six innings of work.
Cooper Smith of Bloomington, MN got the offense started in the third inning with an RBI single to shallow left field to put The Knights in front 1-0. De La Cruz hit an RBI single up to center field to score Smith and take a 2-0 lead. The Knights would add another run to increase their lead to three.
De La Cruz doubled in two insurance runs to put The Knights up 5-1 in the fifth inning
CCRI began chipping away at their deficit in the seventh inning when Lovinelli allowed an RBI triple, 5-2. CCRI Doubled in another run, 5-3 to put the tying run at the plate. To minimize the damage head coach Jeff Mejia elected to go to the bullpen and the left-hander’s day was done.
Mejia turned to Reflin Jimenez of Lawarence, MA to protect the two-run lead. After Jimenez gave up an inherited run to CCRI within one. He bounced back recording the next three outs to secure the 5-4 win and double-header sweep.
The knights were scheduled to continue their four-game home-stand on Monday April 17th vs. Fisher college JV at the NECC campus field.
