BOSTON - The UMass Boston baseball team posted a 12-2 Little East Conference (LEC) victory over visiting Plymouth State University Tuesday night at Monan Park. Senior Nick Palma (Peabody, Mass.) drove in junior Gianni Zarrilli, Jr. (South Glastonbury, Conn.) with a double to left in the bottom of the seventh to give the Beacons the walk-off win.
 
THE BASICS
 
UMass Boston 12, Plymouth State 2 (seven innings)
 
UMass Boston (16-5, 5-0 LEC)
Plymouth State (9-16, 1-4 LEC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Senior Drew Metzdorf (Burlington, Mass.) got things going for the Beacons, launching the first offering from Noah Wachter over the fence in deep left center field to give UMass Boston a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first against his former team. It was his team-leading fifth homer of the year.
 
UMass Boston pulled away with a three-run second, which saw senior Thomas Cue (Shrewsbury, Mass.) drive in Palma with a triple to straight away center field before heading home himself on a wild pitch. Sophomore Luke Leavitt (Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.) later drove in graduate Steve Brookwell (Hightstown, N.J.) from third with a single up the middle, making it a 4-0 game.
 
The Beacons' lead doubled to 8-0 in the third, which featured RBI singles from Zarrilli, junior Ethan Errera (Newington, Conn.) and Brookwell, who later scored from third after senior Craig Corliss (Hopkinton, Mass.) drew a bases-loaded walk.
 
Plymouth state got on the board in the top of the fifth, which saw Luke Sokolski draw a leadoff walk before Bryan McGrath lost one over the scoreboard in left, which made it 11-2 in favor of UMass Boston. That would be the last batter faced by junior Tim Cianciolo (New Milford, Conn.), who would not factor in the decision after yielding two runs on seven hits with sevens strikeouts in his four-plus innings of work.
 
Six different Beacons had multi-hit games. Brookwell was 3-for-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored from the leadoff spot, while Palma finished the game 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored and the game-ending RBI. Errera was also 2-for-3 with two runs scored and another driven in, and Zarrilli finished 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and one driven in.

Sophomore reliever Brendan Ferrari (Dunstable, Mass.) picked up his first decision after entering the game with no outs in the top of the fifth. He fanned four batters over three hitless innings. Wachter took the loss for the Panthers, having allowed eight runs on nine hits and three walks in 2.1 innings. His record fell to 0-4.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
 
The Beacons will next host a non-conference game against Tufts University Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Monan Park.