Davenport, FL - The Northern Vermont University-Lyndon baseball team wrapped up their stay in Florida with a doubleheader sweep of Finlandia University on Monday.  The Hornets took game one, 13-8, then completed the sweep with a 6-4 victory in the nightcap.  The Hornets improve to 2-7 on the season.  The Lions are winless in four games this season.

Game 1 - NVU-Lyndon 13, Finlandia 8

Finlandia jumped in front in the top of the first inning when Jacob Mead's sacrifice fly brought home Tommy Barber, who had led off the game with a base hit.  The Hornets got the run back in the bottom half of the inning.  Ryder Thornton (Essex, VT) led off with a triple, then scored one out later on Skyler Bushey's (St. Albans, VT) single.

After a scoreless second inning, Lyndon grabbed the lead in the bottom of the third.  With two outs, Bushey was hit by a pitch to start the rally.  Jordan Cane (Merrimac, MA) and Tyler Roberge (Essex, VT) then reached on back to back errors, with Bushey scoring when Roberge reached.  Dylan Wilson (Monroe, CT) then singled home Cane to give the Hornets a 3-1 lead.

Finlandia tied things up in the top of the fourth inning.  With one out, Pete Ordonio and Josh Mead delivered back to back singles, then moved up a base on a balk call.  Jacob Godoshian then lofted a sacrifice fly that the Hornets misplayed, scoring Ordonio.  Merced then scored on Mike Badillo's ground out to even things at 3-3.

Lyndon regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth.  Matt Doherty (Gardner, MA) led off with a double and Parker Perron (Barton, VT) came on to pinch run.  John Mahoney (Navarre, FL) singled, scoring Perron and putting the Hornets back in front.  After Thornton reached on an error, Bushey delivered a two-out base hit, scoring Mahoney and Thornton.

The Lions cut the lead to 6-5 in the top of the fifth inning.  Erik Johnson was hit by a pitch, then Jordan D'Angelo singled to start the inning.  Then with two outs, Merced singled, driving in Johnson, and a Hornet miscue on the play allowed D'Angelo to score as well, cutting the Lyndon lead to 6-5.

Lyndon broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth inning.  Wilson singled leading off, then Steven Friscia (Smithtown, NY) reached on an error.  Peron's single loaded the bases.  With one out, Thornton singled, scoring Wilson.  EJ Camden (Corona, CA) reached on an error, allowing two more runs to score, then Bushey's base hit drove in Thornton.  After Cane singled to load the bases again, Roberge singled to score Camden.  A Wilson base hit brought home another run, and a bases loaded walk to Friscia allowed Cane to score with the seventh run of the inning, extending the Hornet lead to 13-5.

Finlandia pushed across three runs in the top of the sixth inning, but that was as close as they would get.

Hornet starter Carlos Rodriguez (La Mirada, CA) went five innings, allowing five earned runs while striking out six, to pick up the win.  Brandon Hale started and took the loss for Finlandia.

Game 2 - NVU-Lyndon 6, Finlandia 4

Finlandia again took the early lead in the nightcap.  Barber walked with one out.  One out later, Brandon Gaskin's double gave the Lions the lead.

Lyndon responded with a big top of the second inning.  With one out and Friscia and Mahoney on base, Carlos Batista's (Davenport, FL) base hit scored Friscia to tie the game.  After Luis Rivera Pellot (Wimauma, FL) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Thornton's two-run single scored Mahoney and Batista to give Lyndon the lead.  Wilson's two-run double made it 5-1 Hornets.

Pitching and defense then became the order of the day.  Will Perkins (Holtwood, PA) came out of the Hornet bullpen to toss four scoreless innings of relief.  After the Hornets pushed across another run in the top of the third inning when Rivera Pellot was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Finlandia pitchers Tyler Hale and Orodio would keep Lyndon off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Finlandia would tighten things in their half of the sixth inning.  After the Lions got two runners on by virtue of a hit batsman and an error, Mead hit a three-run home run to cut the Lyndon lead to 6-4.  After a Johnson single brought the tying run to the plate, Dale Ostermann (Harrington, DE) came on to get the final out of the inning.  Ostermann would then set the Lions down in order in the seventh inning to close out the game for the Hornets.

Perkins earned the win with his four innings of shutout relief.  He only allowed one hit while striking out seven.  Ostermann picked up the save.  Hale, the Finlandia starter, took the loss.

The Hornets are scheduled to return to action on Saturday, March 12th, when they travel to the University of Massachusetts-Boston for a doubleheader.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm.