By Kylie Johnson
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine – The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) baseball team suffered its seventh consecutive loss on Tuesday, Apr. 4, defeated 10-7 by NJCAA #8-ranked Northern Essex Community College (NECC).
The Knights took an early lead, scoring six runs in a lengthy second inning. The Seawolves managed to narrow their deficit chipping away two runs at a time, but the game ended in the eighth inning due to darkness.
Sophomore Justin Colon (Aguada, Puerto Rico) accounted for five of SMCC's seven runs, collecting four RBI and scoring a run himself. Sophomore Derek Hoh (Methuen, Mass.) scored two runs in five at-bats.
NECC's Cooper Smith finished his afternoon with two hits, two RBI, and two runs scored; teammate Kameron Levesque totaled a similar stat line.
SMCC starter Joseph Townsend (Scarborough, Maine) was taxed the loss after two innings pitched; sophomore Logan Burt (Philadelphia, Penn.) came out of the pen to throw four. NECC's Alex Sweeney (Raymond, N.H) allowed four hits and struck out six on his way to the win.
When asked about the game Head Coach Nic Lops commented, "Obviously not the result we were looking for, but we've not played our best brand of baseball as of late. Northern Essex is one of the best clubs in the NJCAA. We gave them 11 free bases, committed three errors, and were still able to stay in the game. It says a lot about what this team is capable of when we clean things up. Our guys continue to grind daily, and I'm very confident things are going to turn around for us."
The Seawolves' record drops to 6-10 overall.
Baseball begins its Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) schedule with Great Bay Community College on Friday, April 7. First pitch in South Portland is set for 3:30 p.m.
For the latest on SMCC's athletic programs, log onto GoSMCCSeawolves.com or follow Southern Maine Community College Athletics on Twitter @SMCCseawolves and on Facebook SMCC Seawolves.
