BOSTON, Mass. – A four-run top of the third along with two stellar pitching performances from Tylor Arruda (New Bedford, Mass.) and Alex Amalfi (Ashland, Mass.) lifted baseball to their third straight win as they earned a 4-3 victory over Rhode Island College Tuesday afternoon at Pontarelli Field.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 4, Rhode Island College 3
UMass Boston (7-5, 7-5 Little East Conference)
Rhode Island College (17-9, 8-4 Little East Conference)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Following a two-run bottom of the first for the Anchormen, the Beacons responded with all four of their runs in the top of the third. A costly error by RIC allowed three unearned runs to come home to make it a 4-2 affair in favor of the Beacons.
That two-run lead was all Arruda needed as he settled in and went-on to retire 14 straight batters before his day came to a close in the sixth. RIC would score the final run of the day in that inning.
In the seventh, UMB turned to Alexa Amalfi to close out the contest, which he did in dominating fashion. In his three innings of work, the Ashland native allowed just one batter to reach via the walk. He would retire the final five batters in order to end the Anchormen's 11-game win-streak.
On the day the Beacons managed to record just three hits with Ben Irvine (Peabody, Mass.), Craig Corliss (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Thomas Cue (Shrewsbury, Mass.) each making contact. Corliss had the Beacons lone extra base hit, a double in the top of the eighth.
RIC was held to just four hits in the loss and had just one double to their stat line.
Arruda improved to 2-0 on the year, while Amalfi recorded his first career save. Amalfi registered four of the Beacons five strikeouts. Connor Davey was handed the loss for RIC, despite allowing just one earned run on two hits in seven innings of work.
BY THE NUMBERS
- All-time the Beacons are now 34-28 against RIC
- Since 2009, the Beacons have won 23 of the last 30 meetings with the Anchormen
- With Tuesday's performance Amalfi now has a WHIP of .88 and has a team-best 24 strikeouts in 16.0 innings of work
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will host Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. LEC doubleheader. In between game one and two the Beacons will honor their senior members.
