MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Riccards Field, Fitchburg, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:          FITCHBURG STATE 3, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 1

GAME #2 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 11, FITCHBURG STATE 0

FITCHBURG, Mass. --  Junior Zac Cooney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) tossed a complete-game four-hitter and struck out three to lead Massachusetts Maritime to an 11-0 nightcap victory over Fitchburg State and a split of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Riccards Field.  Junior Patrick McMahon’s (South Windsor, Conn.) RBI double in the bottom of the sixth plated the go-ahead run to give the Falcons a 3-1 triumph in the opener.

The visiting Buccaneers (10-11, 2-4 MASCAC) gave Cooney the only runs he would need on RBI singles by junior Bobby Rosano (North Reading, Mass.) and freshman Aidan Desrosiers (North Attleboro, Mass.) in the third inning, and Massachusetts Maritime took command of the contest with a six-run sixth inning uprising that was highlighted by a two-run single from senior Bob Lee (Braintree, Mass.), a two-run double off the bat of senior Matt Pelletier (Bradford, Mass.) and Desrosiers’ second RBI single of the game.  The visitors iced their triumph in the seventh when Rosano ripped a three-run homer (his first of the spring), to left to close out the scoring, and Cooney took care of the rest in walking one and throwing 51 of his 75 pitches for strikes to improve to 5-1 on the season.

Rosano rapped out three hits and drove in four runs in the second game victory for the Buccaneers, who also received three hits from Desrosiers and two each from both Lee and Pelletier as part of an 11-hit attack.  Senior David Mason (Leominster, Mass.) collected two of the host Falcons’ (16-10, 1-5 MASCAC) four hits in the nightcap, as junior Ryan Magni (West Springfield, Mass.) allowed two runs over the first four innings to fall to 2-2 on the season for Fitchburg State.

The hosts grabbed a 1-0 second inning lead in the opener when freshman Joe Lyons (West Roxbury, Mass.) reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch, but Massachusetts Maritime evened matters in the sixth when junior Greg Downs (Marshfield, Mass.) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home sophomore Everett Walsh (Marstons Mills, Mass.), who led off the frame with a single.  Fitchburg State, which was held hitless over the first five inning by Buccaneer senior Keith Sanchez (Monroe Township, N.J.), took the lead for good with a two-run sixth inning rally, as sophomore Javier Lozada (New Bedford, Mass.) broke up Sanchez’s no-hit bid with a lead-off double and scored the go-ahead run on McMahon’s two-bagger.  Junior Pierce Hans (Washington Township, N.J.) provided an insurance tally for the Falcons with an RBI single in the frame, and freshman Kyle Cutler (Clinton, Mass.) retired the side in the seventh to cap a four-hit complete-game effort that saw him fan four and improve to 3-4 on the spring.  Walsh, Lee, Downs and Pelletier accounted for Massachusetts Maritime’s four hits in the lid-lifter setback, as Sanchez allowed two earned runs and fanned one in falling to 1-3 on the season.

Massachusetts Maritime travels to Bridgewater, Mass. on Tuesday afternoon to take on Bridgewater State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader beginning at 2:00 p.m., while Fitchburg State heads to Boston on Monday afternoon to square off with UMass Boston in a non-league outing that begins at 4:00 p.m.