April 25, 2010

Box Score

WALTHAM, MA - Freshman third baseman Nick Grady (Whitefield, ME) collected four hits and drove in five runs to lead a 19-hit attack for the University of Southern Maine baseball team in a 22-15 victory over host University of Massachusetts Boston, this afternoon in a Little East Conference contest at Yetten Field in Waltham, MA. The Huskies improve to 17-13 overall and 6-3 in LEC play, while the Beacons fall to 17-12 and 4-5.

UMass Boston never trailed through the first five innings of play until Southern Maine scored three runs in the top of the sixth to take an 11-9 lead. The Huskies loaded the bases with one out when junior Mike Eaton (Sabattus, ME) reached on an error, senior Collin Henry (Penobscot, ME) singled and Grady also singled. Freshman John Carey (South Portland, ME) worked a walk to push the tying run across and Henry scored on a wild pitch to give the visitors their first lead of the day at 10-9. Sophomore Greg Holmes (West Newbury, MA) drew a walk to re-load the bases and sophomore Zach Fernandes (Eliot, ME) was hit by a pitch with the sacks full to pad the Southern Maine lead to 11-9. UMB got a run back in the bottom of the frame on a mammoth home run to left by junior Connor Reinfurt (Manchester, NH) make it 11-10, but the Huskies sent 12 men to the plate in the seventh and scored six times to take a 17-10 advantage. Grady hit a two-run triple and sophomore Anthony Pisani (Cheshire, CT) knocked in a pair of runs with a single to highlight the inning.

UMass Boston scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull to within 17-13 on an RBI single from junior second baseman Ryan Walsh (Newton, MA) and a two-run double by junior catcher Tim Fontaine (Worcester, MA). Southern Maine put the game away with five runs in the ninth, thanks to a two-run double from Pisani, an RBI single from Henry and a two-run homer to center field off of Grady's bat for a 22-13 advantage. The Beacons plated two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a two-run blast over the right field fence from senior left fielder Drew Tambling (Sterling, MA), but that would be the end of an afternoon filled with offense.

UMass Boston's bats got to work right away in the first inning with five runs and knocked out the Huskies' starting pitcher after just four hitters. Walsh put the Beacons on the board with a two-run triple, while sophomore Mike Mattei (Spencer, MA) drove in a run with a double and junior Dan Noonan (Westport, MA) knocked in the fifth run with a sacrifice fly. USM answered in the top of the second with two runs on a two-run single from sophomore David Ricker (Winthrop, ME), who was pinch hitting. In true slugfest fashion, UMB countered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame on an RBI double from Fontaine and a run-scoring bloop single to right field from Reinfurt to increase the Beacons' lead to 7-2. The Huskies responded with five runs in the third, paced by a two-run double from Henry, an RBI single from Grady, a sacrifice fly from Fernandes and a double to left off the bat of Rickers to knot the game at 7-7.

The teams traded single runs over the next two innings to keep the game tied at 8-8. UMB struck for a run in the bottom of the third when junior Jose Roman Santos (Tenares, DR) smoked a leadoff double to left and later scored on a double off the bat of sophomore Mark McCormack (Shelton, CT) for a one-run edge. USM tied it in the fourth when Eaton led off with a single and Henry brought him home with a double to right center. The Beacons took their final lead of the game in the fifth when Santos and McCormack hooked up again. Santos reached on an infield single, stole second and later scored on a single dumped into right by McCormack for a 9-8 edge.

Junior southpaw Nick Hahn (Guilford, CT) entered the game in the first inning, five batters in, and hurled the next seven innings on 143 pitches, after throwing an inning the previous day, to earn the victory and improve to 3-2 for the Huskies. He allowed nine runs (six earned) on 13 hits and a walk, while striking out five. Southern Maine senior starter Mark Schmidt (Gorham, ME) just didn't have it, allowing two singles, a triple and a walk, before being lifted in favor or Hahn. Senior Danny Gomez (East Boston, MA) started the game for UMass Boston and yielded six runs on four hits and four walks to go with a strikeout in two-plus innings of work. Freshman Tom Cole (Mattapoisett, MA) was tagged for the loss, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits, while striking out three in three and a third innings of relief to fall to 1-1 on the year for the Beacons.

Henry finished with four hits and four RBI, while Pisani also knocked in four runs with three hits to lead six Huskies with multiple hits, while McCormack finished with four hits and two RBI, Walsh collected three this and three RBI and Fontaine drove in three with two hits to lead seven UMass Boston batters with two or more hits.

The Beacons will be in action again on Tuesday, April 27 when they travel to Worcester, MA to take on Clark University at 3:30 p.m., while Southern Maine hosts Babson College on April 28 at 3:30 p.m.