MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Lawnwood Complex, Fort Pierce, Fla.

GAME #1 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 4, SUSQUEHANNA 3

GAME #2 FINAL:          SUSQUEHANNA 4, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 1

FORT PIERCE, Fla. --  Senior Brendan O’Kane (Pocasset, Mass.) rapped out a pair of hits as Massachusetts Maritime rallied from a 3-0 second inning deficit to notch a 4-3 opening game victory over Susquehanna and gain a split of a non-league college baseball doubleheader played Sunday afternoon at the Lawnwood Complex.  The Crusaders claimed a 4-1 triumph in the nightcap on the strength of two-run single by sophomore Bryan Palsi (Brielle, N.J.) to pick up their first win of the season.

The Buccaneers (1-2) began their opening game comeback in the fourth when O’Kane singled and later scored on sophomore Everett Walsh’s (Marstons Mills, Mass.) sacrifice fly, and Massachusetts Maritime took the lead for good with three runs in the sixth.  O’Kane started the decisive rally with a single and advanced to second on a walk to fellow senior Bob Lee (Braintree, Mass.), and freshman Aidan Desrosiers (North Attleboro, Mass.) followed with an RBI double to close the gap to one.  An ensuing error enabled Lee and Desrosiers to score the tying and go-ahead runs for the Buccaneers, and junior Zac Cooney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) took care of the rest on the mound, allowing one hit and recording a strikeout over three scoreless frames to pick up the victory.

Lee and Desrosiers added hits in the opening win for Massachusetts Maritime, as freshman Daniel Avery (Milford, Mass.) allowed a run and fanned one over 3 1/3 relief innings for the Buccaneers.  Susquehanna (1-3) had taken a 2-0 first inning lead on an error and an RBI single off the bat of sophomore Dylan Glassmire (Doylestown, Pa.), and the Crusaders added another tally in the second on a wild pitch, setting up the late Massachusetts Maritime heroics.  Freshman Taylor Luckenbill (Pottsville, Pa.) rapped out three of Susquehanna’s seven hits in the lid-lifter, as junior Spencer Hotaling (Selinsgrove, Pa.) allowed two earned runs and fanned a pair over 5 1/3 innings to suffer the Crusaders’ setback on the mound.

Palsi’s third inning two-run single followed a pair of Buccaneer errors that gave Susquehanna the only runs it would need in the nightcap, as the Crusaders added single tallies in the fourth on a passed ball and in the sixth on an RBI single off the bat of junior Jared Musilli (Branchville, N.J.).  O’Kane provided the lone Massachusetts Maritime run of the second outing in the bottom of the sixth, as his two-out triple plated junior Bobby Rosano (North Reading, Mass.).  Junior Nick Kennedy (Brookeville, Md.) rapped out a pair of hits in the night cap for Susquehanna, as junior Luc Kocher (Middlebury Center, Pa.) allowed two hits over the first five innings to pick up the win on the mound.  Senior Matt Smith (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.) tossed a scoreless seventh to earn his first save for the Crusaders, who collected six hits at the plate.  Rosano was a perfect 3-for-3 in the nightcap setback for Massachusetts Maritime, as junior T.J. Notarangelo (Foxboro, Mass.) allowed just four hits and one earned run while striking out six over the first five frames for the Buccaneers.

Massachusetts Maritime opened the 2014 season on Saturday evening with a 7-1 non-league setback to Elizabethtown at the Lawnwood Complex, as the Blue Jays used a pair of two-run rallies in the second and fourth frames in building a 5-0 advantage into the late innings.  Lee’s eighth inning double plated Rosano with the lone Buccaneer run of the contest, as Elizabethtown tacked on a pair in the ninth to account for the final score.  Lee and fellow senior Ben Maher (Plymouth, Mass.) each recorded two hits as part of an eight-hit attack for Massachusetts Maritime, as senior Keith Sanchez (Monroe Township, N.J.) allowed three hits and two runs over the first two innings in suffering the setback on the mound.  Junior Taras Letnaunchyn (Boyertown, Pa.) allowed seven hits over seven innings to pick up the win for the Blue Jays, who received three hits and three RBI from sophomore Sean Jones (Wayne, N.J.) in claiming their season-opening triumph.

Massachusetts Maritime will open its Northern schedule on Saturday, March 15^th when the Buccaneers host Lyndon State in a non-league doubleheader at Commodore Hendy Field that begins at 1:00 p.m.  Susquehanna takes on Immaculata in a non-league outing on Monday afternoon at the Lawnwood Complex beginning at 1:30 p.m.