May 1, 2010

Game One Box Score Game Two Box Score

PLYMOUTH, NH - The University of Massachusetts Boston scored 27 runs on 30 hits Saturday afternoon en route to sweeping a Little East Conference baseball doubleheader from host Plymouth State University, 15-1 and 12-5, on LEC Prostate Cancer Awareness Day at Panther Park.

Senior left fielder Drew Tambling (Sterling, MA) and sophomore Mike Mattei (Spencer, MA) collected five hits apiece on the afternoon for the Beacons. Tambling, junior first baseman Connor Reinfurt (Manchester, NH) and junior second baseman Ryan Walsh (Newton, MA) all cracked home runs in the twinbill as UMB won its fourth straight game to improve to 21-13 overall and 6-5 in the LEC, matching the single-single school record for overall victories set in 2002. The Beacons also clinched a playoff berth in the Little East Conference tournament for the sixth straight season.

Walsh scored three runs on the afternoon to set the UMB career record for runs scored (125), surpassing the mark of Nao Masamoto set from 1998-2001. Walsh also drove in three runs, giving him 102 for his career to become just the second player in school annals to break the century mark.

PSU junior Grant Livingston (Niantic, CT) provided the lone home highlight in the first game with an RBI single in the fourth inning. Junior Bryant Lausberg (Somersworth, NH) and freshmen Brendan Cosgrove (Merrimack, NH) and Rew Wilson (Niantic, CT) each had two hits and an RBI in the nightcap.

Sophomore James Dalton (Apopka, FL) allowed just one run on three hits and two walks over eight innings, striking out eight to record the complete-game victory (6-1). The Beacons plated six runs in the top of the first inning of the opener, added solo runs in the next three innings and never looked back.

Mattei led the Beacon hitters in the opener, reaching base in all five plate appearances with a double, two singles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Tambling, Reinfurt, sophomore center fielder Mark McCormack (Shelton, CT), and juniors Tim Fontaine (Worcester, MA) and Jose Roman Santos (Tenares, DR) all collected two hits apiece, with Fontaine driving in three runs.

The Beacons plated at least one run in the final seven innings of the nightcap. After Tambling struck an RBI single in the third inning put the Beacons on top, he stole second base to tie the UMass Boston single-season record for stolen bases with his 25th to knot Masamoto's total from 1999. PSU took its first lead of the day with two runs in the bottom of the third on RBI singles by Cosgrove and sophomore Mike Cappiello (Westfield, NJ).

The lead didn't last long, as Reinfurt's two-run homer in the fourth inning put UMB ahead for good. Tambling and Lausberg traded RBI singles in the fifth inning, and junior Dan Noonan (Westport, MA) delivered a two-run double for UMB and Santos followed with a run-scoring single in the sixth to make it 7-3. The Beacons finished off the home team with five more runs over the final three innings, including a two-run homer in the ninth by Walsh to set the career runs mark.

Senior Danny Gomez (East Boston, MA) earned the win on the hill for UMB, striking out a career-high 10 batters in seven innings to record his first victory of the season.

Plymouth State, 7-25 overall and 1-11 in the Little East, plays a non-conference doubleheader Sunday at Colby College. UMB plays a single LEC game tomorrow in Gorham, ME at 1:00 p.m. vs. University of Southern Maine.