Sean Keady
Sean Keady

Division-Leading Bentley Uses 19 Runs and 26 Hits to Sweep St. Michael's, 8-3 and 11-1

COLCHESTER, Vt. – Senior right fielder Tom Nagy (Fairfield, Conn./Ludlowe HS) scored twice in each game, senior left fielder Sean Keady (Norwood, Mass./Norwood HS) tied a school record with six hits in the nightcap and senior righty Scott Lueders (Mansfield, Mass./Newton South HS) pitched seven scoreless innings in game two as Bentley University took a pair from St. Michael's College, 8-3 and 11-1, in Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division baseball Saturday afternoon at Doc Jacobs Field.

Bentley, which also won the opener of the three-game series on Friday, stretched its winning streak to four games and improved to 15-3 since March 15. Overall, the Falcons are 16-10, 12-3 against NE-10 opponents and 8-1 in divisional games.

Bentley took control of the opening game by putting up three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Nagy, who had six runs scored and seven RBI in the three-game series, led off the fourth with a double to left center and scored on a wild pitch after stealing third base. Later in the inning after an error and a walk, freshman first baseman Justin Ashworth (Orange, Conn./Amity Regional HS) hit a two-run double to center for a 3-0 lead.

An inning later, sophomore catcher Bryan Rocha (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth HS) had a two-run single and a third run scored on an error.

Nagy, senior shortstop Will Brennan (Locust Valley, N.Y./Locust Valley HS) and senior third baseman Nate Witkowski (Melrose, Mass./Malden Catholic HS) each had two runs and two hits for Bentley in the opener. Junior righty Connor Root (Nashua, N.H./Nashua HS North) improved to 4-1 on the season with six innings of eight-hit pitching, and freshman Ray Rowell (Wellfleet, Mass./Nauset Reg. HS) came on to post the save with three innings of scoreless two-hit relief.

Keady, who became the sixth Falcon to reach the 200-hit plateau in Friday's game, saw his 19-game hitting streak, and his string of 29 straight games reaching base at least once, snapped in the opener, bounced back in style in game two, finishing a perfect six-for-six. That was the fourth time in program history a Falcon had six hits in a game, the first since Kevin Vona in 2007. It was also achieved by Mike Bertulli in 1975 and Brian Hayes in 1996.

Keady had an infield single in the first and third innings, a bunt single to lead off a six-run fifth, another hit later in the inning, an RBI double to right center in the seventh and an RBI triple in the same direction in the ninth. He moved past Jeff Hudson '01 into fifth on Bentley's all-time hit list with 206.

The fifth inning was when the Falcons broke it open against St. Michael's (2-16, 0-7 Northeast). Keady scored on an error, junior center fielder Mike Muir (Bridgewater, Mass./Xaverian Bros. HS) had a two-run single through the right side, senior DH Dante Padovani (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield HS) hit a two-run double to right center and Ashworth singled in Padovani.

Bentley's 18 hits, in addition to the six by Keady, included three apiece by Muir and Padovani. Padovani had three RBI and Rocha, Nagy and Keady each scored twice. Nagy's day included his fourth home run of the year, his third in the last six games.

Lueders improved to 3-2 on the season with his seven shutout innings. He scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out four.

Bentley's next game is Tuesday at Stonehill College (3:30 pm).