MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Commodore Hendy Field, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

FINAL:              MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 7, BECKER 5

                                                     123       456       789                               R          H          E

Becker (6-5)                                  000       040       010                   -           5          12         0

Massachusetts Maritime (5-3)      005       002       00x                   -           7          10         3

BATTERIES

BEC:    Brian Dowling, Ben Keough (4), D.J. Reed (6), Austin Phillips (8) and Todd Tompkins

MMA:   Jared Lowe, Chris Gallagher (5), Zacary Cooney (8) and Matt Pelletier

WP:      Gallagher (1-0)               LP:       Dowling (0-1)                 Save:    Cooney (2)

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Sophomore Matt Pelletier (Bradford, Mass.) drove in a pair of runs, while fellow sophomore Chris Gallagher (East Sandwich, Mass.) pitched three scoreless innings of relief to lead Massachusetts Maritime to a 7-5 non-league college baseball victory over Becker Thursday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field.

The host Buccaneers (5-3), who have now won four of their last five outings, used a five-run third inning rally to take control of the contest early, as an RBI double by sophomore Bob Lee (Braintree, Mass.) and a run-scoring single by sophomore Ben Maher (Plymouth, Mass.) accounted for the first two runs of the frame.  Sophomore Devin Rudolph (Carver, Mass.) forced in the third run after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Pelletier’s RBI fielder’s choice, coupled with a steal of home by sophomore Luke Kondrotas (Barre, Mass.), closed out the Massachusetts Maritime scoring in the inning.

The visiting Hawks (6-5) closed to within a run at 5-4 with a four-run fifth frame, as RBI singles off the bats of senior Weston Meehan (Thomson, Ga.) and sophomore Mike Smith (Warner, N.H.), coupled with an error and a double play, accounted for the Becker tallies.  The Buccaneers picked up two important insurance runs in the sixth on Pelletier’s RBI single down the right field line and a one-out fielder’s choice groundout by sophomore Brendan O’Kane (Pocasset, Mass.), as Becker closed back to within two in the eighth on junior Todd Tompkins’ (West Haven, Conn.) RBI double and placed the tying runs at second and third with two outs in the ninth, but Massachusetts Maritime freshman Zacary Cooney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) struck out Hawk freshman Keon Jenkins (Nashua, N.H.) on a 3-2 pitch to close out the contest and snap the visitors’ five-game winning streak.

Lee, Maher and Kondrotas each collected two hits as a part of a 10-hit Buccaneer attack in the triumph, as Gallagher fanned one and scattered three hits to pick up his first victory of the season in relief of senior Jared Lowe (Brimfield, Mass.), who allowed a pair of earned runs over the first four-plus innings.  Cooney recorded his second save of the season for the hosts, allowing a run and striking out four over the final two innings of play.  Smith rapped out three of Becker’s 12 hits on the afternoon, as the Hawks also receive two hits each from Tompkins, senior Joseph Corey (Billerica, Mass.) and junior Austin Phillips (Thomson, Ga.).  Freshman Brian Dowling (Naugatuck, Conn.) suffered the setback on the mound for the visitors, allowing five runs and six hits over the first three innings of work to fall to 0-1 on the spring.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Lasell in a non-league doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field beginning at Noon, while Becker travels to Chicopee, Mass. on Saturday afternoon for a New England Collegiate Conference doubleheader with Elms that begins at 1:00 p.m.