AUBURNDALE, Fla. – After being held down offensively in their previous two games, the UMass Boston Baseball bats came to life on Saturday evening against SUNY Brockport as a 10-run blitz by the Beacons helped them snap a two-game losing streak, 10-4, over the Golden Eagles.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 10, SUNY Brockport 5
UMass Boston (4-2)
SUNY Brockport (4-4)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a stagnant two days on offense, the Beacons got on the scoreboard in a hurry as senior infielder
Drew Metzdorf knocked home senior outfielder
Chris Ducko on an error by graduate outfielder Nicholas Pastore which put UMass Boston ahead 1-0. Three more runs would cross the plate for the Beacons off an RBI single from senior first baseman
Nick Palma's RBI single and a towering two-out triple by senior infielder
Gianni Zarrilli Jr. to put UMass Boston ahead 4-0.
Senior infielder
Aidan Blake extended the Beacon lead to five runs in the third inning with a long double to the right field wall while senior pitcher Dillion Ryan set down the first nine Golden Eagle batters he faced.
Threatening with the bases loaded and nobody out against Ryan to start the fourth, a big double play ball hit by graduate utilityman Patrick Bigham allowed SUNY Brockport to get only one run back as Ryan got junior pitcher Zach Eldred swinging to end the inning. The Beacons would match the one run by the Golden Eagles in the fifth inning when a passed ball plated senior outfielder
Chris Ducko to help UMass Boston regain their five-run lead, 6-1.
SUNY Brockport would not go down quietly, putting up a three spot in the sixth inning to help them pull within two runs, 6-4. All with two outs, the Golden Eagles would use a Pastore triple and Bigham walk to score one run on a single by Eldred against junior pitcher
Sam Gray. With the bases loaded facing junior pitcher
Brendan Ferrari, two more runs would come home for SUNY Brockport after an error by Metzdorf on a fielders choice and a hit batter by Ferrari.
However, the Beacons would respond with a crucial two runs in the visiting half of the seventh inning with one out. Using a single from Metzdorf and double by Blake, Palma's line drive single up the middle against senior pitcher Justin DelVecchio gave UMass Boston an 8-4 cushion, needing just nine more outs to snap their two-game skid.
Freshman outfielder
Breon Parker put the game out of reach for any further SUNY Brockport comeback attempt, lining a two-run single up the middle which scored Zarrilli Jr. and junior infielder
Mike Gorham who reached on a single and hit by pitch respectively, giving the Beacons their largest lead of the night at six runs, 10-4, in the eighth inning.
Graduate pitcher
Josh Eastman worked himself out of trouble after loading the bases up with two outs in the bottom of inning, getting graduate third baseman Johnny Genau to fly out to Parker in center field to end the frame.
Eastman would work through the ninth inning, to cap off his two innings while allowing one run which was unearned, two hits and walking two as the Beacons closed out a 10-5 victory over SUNY Brockport heading into their off day on Monday.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Aidan Blake now has a six-game hitting streak to start the season and finished the week going 12-for-19 with five doubles and four RBIs
- Nick Palma went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a walk to extend his hitting streak to six games to start the season
- Brendan Ferrari earned his first win of the season as the most effective reliever, going 1 1/3 innings while allowing no runs on one hit and striking out two
- Head Coach Brendan Egyabroat notches his 398th career win and is now just two shy of reaching the 400-career win mark
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston returns to action on Tuesday afternoon after a day off on Monday to start their first of four consecutive games to close out their spring break trip in Florida starting with Ithaca College, ranked 21
st in the D3 Baseball poll at 5:15 PM. This will be the first matchup between the two teams in program history.
