MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Friday, April 18, 2014

Central Campus Field, Salem, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:          SALEM STATE 3, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 0

GAME #2 FINAL:          SALEM STATE 3, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 2 (9 INNINGS)

SALEM, Mass. --  Senior Brett Cahill’s (Gloucester, Mass.) RBI single with one out in the ninth plated the game-winner and lifted Salem State to a 3-2 nightcap victory over Massachusetts Maritime to complete a sweep of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader played Friday afternoon at Central Campus Field.  Fellow senior Ryan Hyjek (Tolland, Conn.) went the distance and struck out three to give the Vikings a 3-0 triumph in the opener.

The host Vikings (23-11, 10-0 MASCAC), who received votes in this week’s d3baseball.com Top 25, evened matters at 1-1 in the bottom of the second in the nightcap on a run-scoring single by senior Kyle McElroy (Newburyport, Mass.) after an RBI single off the bat of freshman Terrence Mudie (Barnstable, Mass.) had given the visiting Buccaneers (11-14, 3-7 MASCAC) the early lead in the top of the inning.  Massachusetts Maritime took a 2-1 advantage in the fourth when senior Bob Lee (Braintree, Mass.) scored on a wild pitch, and that score held up until the sixth when Cahill reached on an error and scored on an RBI single by senior Mike Lamothe (Beverly, Mass.).  Both teams had chances in the first two extra frames before the Vikings loaded the bases in the decisive ninth, as singles by seniors Ethan Trowt (Beverly, Mass.) and Matt Burgess (Kingston, Mass.) sandwiched an intentional walk to sophomore Richard Fecteau (Newbury, Mass.) to set up Cahill’s heroics.

McElroy, Fecteau and Burgess each had two hits as part of a nine-hit attack in the nightcap for Salem State, as sophomore Pete Gonski (East Lyme, Conn.) improved to 4-0 with four shutout innings and four strikeouts in relief of fellow sophomore Sean Buckland (Lynn, Mass.), who allowed both runs over the first three frames.  Mudie and senior Matt Pelletier (Bradford, Mass.) each had two hits as a part of an eight-hit nightcap effort for Massachusetts Maritime, as junior Zac Cooney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) suffered the setback on the mound for the Buccaneers in relief of senior Keith Sanchez (Monroe Township, N.J.), who allowed an earned run and fanned a pair over the first seven innings of work.

The Vikings gave Hyjek the only run he would need in the second on McElroy’s RBI single, and Salem State plated a pair of insurance tallies in the fourth on Trowt’s two-run triple to close out the scoring.  Hyjek scattered eight hits in improving to 6-1 on the season for the hosts, who received a pair of hits off the bat of Lamothe in the lid-lifter.  Senior Brendan O’Kane (Pocasset, Mass.) and sophomore Everett Walsh (Marstons Mills, Mass.) each had two hits in the opening game setback for Massachusetts Maritime, which left nine men on base in the outing.  Junior Tyler Smith (Bellingham, Mass.) allowed four hits and struck out one in allowing all three runs to suffer his first setback of the spring on the mound for the Buccaneers.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts MCLA in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Monday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field that begins at 1:00 p.m., while Salem State heads to Westfield, Mass. on Monday afternoon to square off with Westfield State in a MASCAC twinbill beginning at Noon.