Richland Runs by Northern Essex in World Series Opener

AUBURN, N.Y. – Dallas College Richland's baseball team beat Northern Essex Community College 12-2 in five innings Saturday night to open the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series at Falcon Park. 

The fourth-seeded Thunderducks (36-22) advance to play eighth-seeded Century College (44-9) at 6:15 p.m. CT Sunday. Century beat top-seeded SUNY Niagra 4-1.

Sean Amarante crushed a grand slam to left in the bottom of the first inning to give Richland a 5-2 lead. Jordan Owns' RBI single to center cut Northern Essex's lead in half. The Knights (32-9) got on the board first when Manuel Castro had a two-run homer to left-center.

The Thunderducks scored four in the third on Connor Haelzle's RBI single, Barrett Howard's run-scoring single and Smith's RBI triple after Haelzle sprinted home on a wild pitch. That put Richland up 9-2.

Haelzle scored again on a wild pitch in the fourth to make it 11-2. Richland picked up its last run after Howard stole third, and scored on an error.

Thunderducks pitcher Bron Farr retired Northern Essex in order in the fifth to seal the victory. Farr (8-3) allowed two runs on four hits and no walks, and had three strikeouts.

Amarante went 2 for 3 with four RBI.  Lukas Boone, Owns, Howard, Smith, Haelzle each had a hit. Castro was 2 for 2, Jaren Megan and Jacob Carter both went 1 for 2 for the Knights.

Amarante's home run was his 13th of the season.