May 2, 2010

Box Score

GORHAM, ME -- The University of Massachusetts Boston baseball team rallied for seven runs in the ninth inning, highlighted by a grand slam home run off the bat of junior second baseman Ryan Walsh (Newton, MA), to come from behind to defeat the University of Southern Maine, 9-6, in a Little East Conference baseball game Sunday afternoon at the USM Baseball Stadium.

The win was the fifth straight for the Beacons, and improved their record to 22-13 overall and 7-5 in the conference. The win gives them a school-record total, eclipsing the mark from 2002. The Huskies, winless in their last five (0-4-1), fall to 17-17-1 overall and 6-6 in LEC play.

Trailing 5-2 entering their final turn at bat, the Beacons used six hits, an intentional walk and two Huskies' errors to push seven runs across the plate. With one out, the Beacons loaded the bases on three straight singles from junior pinch hitter Dan Noonan (Westport, MA), senior left fielder Drew Tambling (Sterling, MA) and sophomore center fielder Mark McCormack (Shelton, CT), two of the infield variety, Walsh then hit the first pitch he saw from USM junior reliever Nick Hahn (Guilford, CT) over the fence to give the Beacons the lead.

UMass Boston added three more runs before the inning came to a close. After a pitching change, junior catcher Tim Fontaine (Worcester, MA) legged out his first triple of the year, junior first baseman Connor Reinfurt (Manchester, NH) received an intentional walk, and senior designated hitter Jeff Outzen (San Mateo, CA) singled to bring in Fontaine. Sophomore third baseman Matt Mattei (Spencer, MA) reached on a fielder's choice and reached second on a throwing error that allowed Reinfurt to score. Another infield error brought home Outzen with the seventh run of the inning.

The Beacons grabbed a 2-0 lead in first when Tambling hit the first pitch of the game out of the park for his ninth homer of the season to tie the school record set by Adam Waxman (2000-03) in 2001 and matched by Pat Donovan (2004-05) in 2005. Walsh singled, stole second and came in on Fontaine's RBI single. Tambling singled and stole a base in the next frame to break the school record for thefts held by Nao Masamoto (1998-2001) and stole another base in the seventh to give him a new standard of 27.

The Huskies responded in the second inning with four runs. Freshman John Carey (South Portland, ME) hit a two-run homer to tie the game, and junior Mike Eaton (Sabattus, ME) had a two-out, two-RBI single to give the Huskies a 4-2 lead.

USM added a single run in the sixth on sophomore Roberto Valenti's (Lawrence, MA) RBI single to make it 5-2.

Tambling, Fontaine and Outzen paced the Beacons' 15-hit attack with three hits apiece. Walsh finished with two hits and four RBI. Rookie right-hander Daniel Heefner (Tracy, CA) picked up the win with three innings of scoreless relief work. Heefner came on in the sixth for senior southpaw starter Michael Andriano (Massapequa, NY) after Andriano walked Carey to start the inning. He finished with five strikeouts in five innings of work to move into seventh on the Beacons' all-time list with 179 innings pitched and fifth with 125 career strikeouts.

Eaton, Carey, and sophomores Anthony Pisani (Cheshire, CT) and David Ricker (Winthrop, ME) all had two hits for the Huskies. Hahn was the tough-luck loser after pitching three solid innings in relief of junior starter Ben Ives (Portland, ME).

Southern Maine travels to Bowdoin College on Tuesday (4:00 p.m.) for its next game. UMass Boston will play at Curry College on Tuesday, April 4 at 3:30 p.m.

Material used in this report courtesy of University of Southern Maine Sports Information