April 3, 2010
Box Score
MANSFIELD, CT - Chris Cannata's (Southington, CT) fourth hit of the game drove in the tying and winning runs with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning and lifted the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team to a 7-6 Little East Conference victory over the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader and the Warriors went on to sweep the Beacons at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
Two singles and an error loaded the bases for Eastern (12-4, 2-1 little east) in the bottom of the ninth, and with two out, Cannata drove a 2-2 pitch within two feet of a grand slam, the ball bouncing high off the left-center field wall and plating pinch runner Drew Accomando (Monroe, CT) and John Parke (Middlefield, CT) with the game-winning runs that kept righty Will Musson (Wethersfield, CT) perfect (7-0) in two years of conference competition.
In the second game, Melvin Castillo (Danbury, CT), Parke and Shane Kingsley (Beacon Falls, CT) combined for 12 hits, nine RBI and seven runs in a 10-6 victory that was the 1,300th in the career of 42nd-year-head coach Bill Holowaty (1,300-478-6).
In the second game, Castillo was 5-for-5 with four runs scored, Parke 4-for-4 with a double, grand slam home run, six RBI and three runs scored, and Kingsley 3-for-4 (he also reached on an error) with three RBI as the trio reached safely in all 13 of its at-bats.
Right-handed starter Matt Fontaine (Cranston, RI) improved to 6-1 lifetime against conference opponents by winning the second game. Fontaine (2-0) pitched six innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits.
One day after blowing a five-run ninth-inning lead in a 9-6, ten-inning loss, Eastern made Musson the complete-game winner when it rallied for its two unearned runs in the ninth inning of the opener. With one out, Andrew Dewing (Swampscott, MA) and pinch hitter Kingsley singled around a UMass Boston (9-8, 0-2 LEC) infield error against reliever Tony Damon (San Bruno, CA). Damon got a strikeout for the second out and was up in the count to Cannata before the No. 9 hitter turned on an inside fastball on a 2-2 count and drove it off the wall for his second double of the game.
Castillo and Parke each had two hits in Eastern's 14-hit attack in support of Musson (2-0), who gave up seven hits and only one walk and fanned seven in recording his second career complete game at Eastern.
Trailing 4-2 in the first game, UMass Boston surged in front by scoring three times in the sixth and tacked on an insurance run in the seventh to make it 6-4. Junior catcher Tim Fontaine (Worcester, MA), who hit two solo home runs in the second game, drove in two runs in the three-run sixth with a two-out single.
In addition to Fontaine's two home runs in game two for the Beacons, Drew Tambling (Sterling, MA) socked a two-run home run and finished with two hits and three RBI.
UMass Boston will be in action again on Tuesday, April 6 when it travels to Framingham, MA for a 3:00 p.m. tilt with Framingham State College, while the Warriors head to Springfield, MA on April 5 to take on Western New England College at 3:00 p.m.
Material used in this report courtesy of Eastern Connecticut State University Sports Information
