Box Score
BOSTON, Mass. – With eight complete innings from Fernando Burgos (Hyde Park, Mass.) and a pair of home runs by Dave Murphy (Plymouth, Mass.) baseball earned its biggest win of the season by-far as they handed 16th ranked Southern Maine a 7-1 loss Tuesday afternoon at Monan Park in a Little East Conference single game.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 7, #16 University of Southern Maine 1
UMass Boston (15-12, 3-4 Little East Conference)
Southern Maine (18-7. 5-2 Little East Conference)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Over eight complete innings of work, Burgos allowed just the one run, unearned, on only two hits, as the freshman completely neutralized the hard hitting Huskies. For Murphy, he unloaded a pair of home runs, and finished the day with three RBI and two run scored.
Facing the Huskies Jack Donnelly, the Beacons offense wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, after Burgos posted his first of four 1-2-3 innings. With Lionel Danielson (St. Croix, Virgin Islands) sitting on first base due to a walk, Murphy crushed his first homer of the day, and third of the year over the "Monster Wall" to make it 2-0 Beacons.
The Beacons then added two more in the second with Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.) and Josh Lopez (New Haven, Conn.) each driving in a run to make it 4-0. Just like the second inning, Burgos retired the side in the third, which kept the momentum in favor UMB, as Murphy led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot to make it a five-run ball game.
It was in the top of the fourth that Southern Maine recorded their first hit of the day, a double to left center by Nick DiBiase, and their only run of the afternoon, which was the result of a passed ball which scored DiBiase.
UMB did not let off the gas as they quickly pushed their lead back to five, thanks to an RBI double by Danielson, which plated Charlie Huegi (Sandy Hook, Conn.). The freshman first baseman led off the inning with a single, and was quickly moved into scoring position thanks to a perfectly place sacrifice bunt by Frosceno.
After a pair of scoreless innings for the Beacons, they would tack on their final run of the day in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Danielson.
Burgos tallied four K's and two walks to improve to 3-1 on the year. Manny Garcia (Boston, Mass.) closed out the ninth and retired the Huskies in order. Donnelly was handed the loss (2-1), after allowing six runs, all earned, on six hits.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Tuesday's win for the Beacons marked their first since 2013, when they shut out USM for the first time in program history.
- Since 2010 the Beacons are 8-6 overall
- Burgos' eight innings of work matched his career high for innings pitched, while his two hits allowed marked a career-best in a non-relief appearance
- With his two runs Murphy is now tied for the league lead
- Burgos now boasts and ERA of 1.10, which has him ranked second in the conference amongst starting pitchers
- Southern Maine entered the contest hitting .327 and were averaging 12.2 hits per game
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will travel to Salem State University tomorrow for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference game.
