BOSTON, Mass. – Baseball earned a pair of one-run Little East Conference victories as they earned their first LEC sweep of the 2021 season in the form of a 9-8 win in game one and a 8-7 win in game two over Castleton University Sunday afternoon at Monan Park.

THE BASICS

GM1: UMass Boston 9, Castleton University 8
GM 2: UMass Boston 8, Castleton University 7

UMass Boston (2-1, 2-1 Little East Conference)
Castleton University (6-8, 4-3 Little East conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

In both contests, the Beacons got some timely hitting which helped them earn the narrow victories.  The Beacons pitching staff saw 10 different hurlers combine for 25 strikeouts respectively in Sunday's twinbill.

GAME 1 – UMass Boston 9, Castleton University 8

In the opener, the Beacons pounded out 15 hits, with Curtis Tirone (Waltham, Mass.) and Craig Corliss (Hopkinton, Mass.)  each finished with three hits.  The duo also combined for six RBI and two runs scored.  Tirone picked-up his first triple as a Beacons, while Corliss ripped his second double of the young campaign.

Tim Cianciolo (New Milford, Conn.) made his collegiate debut for the Beacons, and had a solid showing on the hill.  In three innings of work he fanned five and only walked two, while not surrendering a hit or a run.
Ethan Errera (Newington, Conn.) picked-up the save, the first of his career as he registered the final out of the contest. 

UMB got going quickly as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead through the first three frames.  Castleton cut their lead to two with a three-run top of the fourth.  The Beacons regained the momentum in the fifth, as they plated four runs to make it 9-3.  However, the four-run fifth was the last time the Beacons would put a dent on the scoreboard.  Castleton made things very interesting in the final two innings as they scored five runs to make it a one-run contest.  Luckily the Beacons closed it out to record win number one on the year.

GAME 2 – UMass Boston 8, Castleton University 7

The nightcap, saw Corliss finished with a pair of hits, one RBI and a run scored.  Control was an issue for the pitchers on both squads as the two squads combined for 23 walks and six hit batters respectively.

Dillon Ryan (Sandwich, Mass.) led all players with six strikeouts through the first three innings. He did not allow a walk in his first start of the 2021 campaign.  Alessio Pressamarita (East Hartford, Conn.) picked-up his first save after closing out the final three innings.

UMass Boston struck first on the scoreboard driving in three runs in the bottom of the third.  Castleton would take their only lead of the day in the top of the fifth scoring four runs.  UMB quickly responded with four runs of-their-own to make it 7-3.

Castleton tacked on two in the seventh, but UMB got the clutch run in the bottom of the eighth thanks to an Aidan Blake (Lakeville, Mass.) RBI single.  The Spartans tried to force the extra frames in the top of the ninth as they scored their final run of the day.  However, their comeback bid was halted as Pressamarita closed out the contest to earn the save.

BY THE NUMBERS

• All-time the Beacons are now 4-0 against Castleton University with all four wins coming at Monan Park
• Of the 10 Beacons pitchers featured in Sunday's doubleheader seven made their collegiate debuts
• With the victories head coach Brendan Eygabroat now sits with 360 career wins, the most of any male coach in UMass Boston athletics history
• Combined UMass Boston recorded 22 hits and 14 walks

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will host Rhode Island College on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.  Next Saturday's conference doubleheader with Plymouth State University has been postponed.  A make-up date has not yet been determined.