MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Scotts Complex, Cranston, R.I.

GAME #1 FINAL:          JOHNSON & WALES 10, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 7

GAME #2 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 3, JOHNSON & WALES 2 (8 INNINGS)

CRANSTON, R.I. --  Senior Bob Lee (Braintree, Mass.) plated fellow senior Keith Sanchez (Monroe Township, N.J.) on a suicide squeeze in the top of the eighth inning to lead Massachusetts Maritime to a 3-2 nightcap victory over Johnson & Wales and a split of a non-league college baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the Scotts Complex, as the host Wildcats used a four-run sixth inning rally to notch a 10-7 opening game triumph.

The visiting Buccaneers (3-4) presented Head Coach Bob Corradi with his 550^th career victory in taking the second contest, as Johnson & Wales (10-2) jumped out to a 1-0 second inning lead on a suicide squeeze by junior Rob Bocchetti (East Meadow, N.Y.) before Massachusetts Maritime got the run back in the third on an RBI single by senior Brendan O’Kane (Pocasset, Mass.), who then gave the visitors a 2-1 edge in the fifth with his second run-scoring safety of the contest.  The Wildcats forced the extra frame by plating the tying tally in the sixth on sophomore Mark Kerwin’s (Smithfield, R.I.) RBI double to set the stage for the Buccaneers’ winning rally, as Sanchez led off the eighth with an infield single, advanced to second on a sacrifice and then to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Lee’s suicide squeeze.  Sanchez retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth to record his first save and present Corradi, who is in his 42^nd season as Massachusetts Maritime’s mentor, with the milestone triumph.

O’Kane accounted for half of the Buccaneers’ hit total in the nightcap, as sophomore Kevin Kwedor (Marshfield, Mass.) scattered five hits and struck out eight to earn his first collegiate victory on the mound for the visitors, who snapped Johnson & Wales’ 14-game series win streak that dated back to 2000.  Freshman Ryan Cabral (Hope, R.I.) suffered the setback on the mound for the Wildcats in relief of senior Aldo Morales (Havana, Cuba), who went the first six frames in allowing three hits and fanning five.

Johnson & Wales jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead in the opener on the strength of a two-run double off the bat of senior Jack Hocking (Hanover, Mass.) that followed a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch of freshman Carlos Sanabria (Pawtucket, R.I.) and a sacrifice fly from senior Tyler Pacheco (East Hampstead, N.H.), and an RBI single off the bat of senior Alex Pezzuto (Hastings, N.Y.) extended that margin to 5-0 in the second.  Massachusetts Maritime sent 12 men to the plate as part of a seven-run fourth inning rally that gave the Buccaneers the lead, as a bases-loaded walk to freshman Terrence Mudie (Barnstable, Mass.) and a two-run fielder’s choice from O’Kane was followed by a three-run triple off the bat of junior Bobby Rosano (North Reading, Mass.), who then scored on an error.  The hosts closed back to within one at 7-6 in their half of the fourth on freshman Lou Umberto’s (Cranston, R.I.) RBI single, and the Wildcats used their second four-run rally of the day to claim the opening win, as Pezzuto’s second run-scoring single of the game, coupled with a pair of errors, capped the scoring for the contest.

Hocking, Pezzuto, junior Kory Ferullo (Rochester, N.H.) and sophomore Tom Elkow (Morganville, N.J.) each had two hits as part of a 10-hit attack in the opener for Johnson & Wales, as freshman Bryan Quinlan (Pawtucket, R.I.) earned his first collegiate win with two scoreless relief innings for the Wildcats, who also received senior Tim Ashworth’s (West Chesterfield, N.H.) third save of the spring.  Rosano collected two of Massachusetts Maritime’s seven hits in the opener, as freshman Daniel Avery (Milford, Mass.) allowed three runs over four relief innings in suffering the setback for the Buccaneers.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Rivier in a non-league doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field beginning at Noon, while Johnson & Wales hosts Colby-Sawyer in a non-league outing on Sunday afternoon at the Scotts Complex that begins at 1:00 p.m.