March 25, 2009

Box Score

East Providence, RI -- The Johnson & Wales University baseball team dropped a hard-fought 7-6 decision in extra innings against University of Massachusetts Boston in a non-conference contest at Pierce Field on Wednesday afternoon.

UMass Boston jumped out to the early lead when senior Ryan Oshima (LaJolla, CA) tripled and later scored on a double by sophomore Tim Fontaine (Worcester, MA). Fontaine crossed the plate on an RBI single by senior Eric Salvador (Middleboro, MA), giving the Beacons the 2-0 advantage. Johnson & Wales chipped away at the lead in the bottom of the fourth when sophomore Teddy Katz (Pittsburgh, PA) notched a triple and stole home to make the score 2-1.

JWU took the lead in the bottom of the fifth when a two run single by senior John Kuschman (Glastonbury, CT) put the team up 3-2. The Wildcats extended their lead in the bottom of the seventh after a single by senior Frank Nadjavestky (Avenel, NJ) scored a pair of runs, giving the squad the 5-2 lead. UMass Boston responded in the top of the eight on an RBI single by junior Connor Reinfurt (Manchester, NH) and a sacrifice fly by freshman Russell Sirko (Danbury, CT), making the score 5-4. An RBI single by Fontaine in the top of the ninth knotted the game at 5-5.

After the game went into extra innings, the visiting Beacons took the 6-5 lead in the top of the tenth on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Jose Santos (Boston, MA/Madison Park). The team went ahead 7-5 after an RBI single by freshman Ty Buccetti (Wallingford, CT). JWU responded in the bottom of the 10th when freshman Joe Coppola's (Ridgewood, NJ) RBI single scored Katz to make it a one run game. That would be as close as the Wildcats would get, however as UMass Boston held on for the 7-6 victory.

Sophomore Nick Alosco (Mahopac, NY) was 3-for-4 with an RBI while Katz was 2-for-5 with a pair of runs in the setback for Johnson & Wales. UMass Boston was paced by Fontaine who went 2-for-4 with one run and two RBI while senior Eric Salvador (Middleboro, MA) was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI for the Beacons.

Sophomore Matt Yaeger (Glendale, AZ) suffered the loss for Johnson & Wales, allowing three runs on five hits in two and two third innings of work. Sophomore Mark Grant (Danbury, CT) notched the win for the Beacons, allowing three runs on six hits with five strikeouts in five innings.

With the loss Johnson & Wales falls to 6-9 while UMass Boston improves to 3-11 for the season. The Wildcats will return to action on Thursday, March 26th when they host Elms for a non-conference contest at 3:30 p.m. and the Beacons travel to Providence, RI to open the the Little East Conference slate with a twinbill vs. Rhode Island College at noon.

Some material in this report provided by Johnson & Wales University Sports Information