Most teams hope they’ll get hot at the right time, only some manage to do it. The Saint Anselm Baseball team has, and snuck into the playoffs as the #4 seed in the NE10 tournament. They are slated to face off against #1 seed Franklin Pierce in the first round. With a record of 15 wins and 30 losses, the Hawks made it to postseason play off an incredible run of form late in the season, winning their last 5 games in a row to secure a spot.
This timely winning streak began on April 27th with a 5-0 win over the Pace Setters. After losing the first matchup of the doubleheader 10-7, the Hawks rebounded to split the day 1-1. Sophomore pitcher Andrew Chenevert (Dracut, MA) earned the start for Saint A’s and was lights-out on the mound, picking up the win after tossing 6.2 scoreless innings while allowing just 6 hits, striking out 4 batters, and walking zero. Sophomore Mavrick Bordeau (Billerica, MA) also shined for the Hawks, notching two hits, two runs, and 2 RBI’s. Bordeau leads Saint A’s with 38 runs scored, and with this performance, moved up to 10th overall in program history for runs scored in a single season.
The Hawks would then host their final home game of the regular season against the Purple Knights of Saint Michael’s on April 29th. A makeup game for a rained-out matchup from earlier in the season, the Hawks would pick up the win in a high-scoring affair, 16-14. The shootout saw a whopping 44 combined hits, 24 of which came from Saint A’s- a new program record. The Hawks jumped out to a 6-0 lead early on and never relinquished the lead, while Bordeau tied a career-high with 5 hits. Freshman Jackson Powers drove in 2 runs and recorded four hits to improve his batting average to .356, fifth highest in the NE10.
On May 2nd, Saint Anselm swept the Assumption Greyhounds in a doubleheader in Worcester, winning game one 5-3 and game two 7-3. Game one saw freshman George Slauson carry the offensive workload, recording two home runs- both hit well over the right-field wall. Freshman Jake Schoenberg (Holliston, MA) secured the win on the mound. Game 2 saw a more balanced attack, and the game initially was a close contest, tied at 3-3 early. After several scoreless innings, the Hawks regained the lead in the sixth to go up 4-3. After a solo homer in the 7th inning from freshman Peter Fischer (Marshfield, MA) and two more runs in the 8th, the game was decided, and the Hawks returned to Goffstown with two more in the win column.
To say the Hawks closed out the regular season on a high note is an understatement. Once again squaring off against Assumption, Saint A’s erupted for a staggering 24 runs on 21 hits to win their 5th straight game by a score of 24-7. This massive margin of victory set the single-game program run record for the Hawks and secured them a playoff spot. Mavrick Bourdeau went 5 for 7 at the plate, becoming the 9th player in Saint Anselm Baseball history to record five hits in one game. Jackson Powers and Brenden Harris also logged 7 at-bats, with Powers notching 3 hits and 4 runs scored while Harris had four hits and four RBI’s. While 9 different pitchers took the mound for Saint A’s, senior Zachary Abbot (Gloucester, MA) started the game and earned his first career win.
The Hawks showed an impressive amount of resilience, battling hard in the final stretch of the regular season and earning a spot in the NE10 playoffs. They will look to upset #1 seed Franklin Pierce on Wednesday, May 7th.