MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Commodore Hendy Field, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 9, WESTFIELD STATE 1

GAME #2 FINAL:          WESTFIELD STATE 8, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 1

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Senior Keith Sanchez (Monroe Township, N.J.) fired a complete-game five-hitter and struck out seven to lead Massachusetts Maritime to a 9-1 victory over Westfield State in the opener of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader played Sunday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field.  The Owls gained a split of the twinbill thanks to a six-inning, four-hit effort on the mound from sophomore Pete Liimatainen (West Barnstable, Mass.) en route to an 8-1 nightcap triumph.

The host Buccaneers (8-8, 1-3 MASCAC) took control of the opener with a seven-run third inning rally, as a pair of two-run doubles off the bats of senior Matt Pelletier (Bradford, Mass.) and freshman Terrence Mudie (Barnstable, Mass.) followed an RBI two-bagger from senior Bob Lee (Braintree, Mass.) and an RBI single off the bat of freshman Aidan Desrosiers (North Attleboro, Mass.) that highlighted a seven-hit frame.  Massachusetts Maritime took advantage of three errors as well in the winning and tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth on a balk and an RBI infield single by sophomore Matt King (Scituate, Mass.), and Sanchez took care of the rest on the mound, as he threw 63 of his 103 pitches for strikes in picking up his first win of the season.  The triumph also snapped a 17-game series win streak by the visiting Owls (7-9, 1-3 MASCAC), as the last Massachusetts Maritime victory came on April 9, 2005. 

King rapped out three of the hosts’ 11 hits in the opener, while Pelletier and senior Ben Maher (Plymouth, Mass.) added two hits each.  Sophomore Connor Sheridan (South Hadley, Mass.) drove in the lone Westfield State run in the lid-lifter on a fielder’s choice, as sophomore E.G. McMillan (Hopkinton, Mass.) collected two of the visitors’ five hits.  Sophomore Justin Thomson (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) suffered the setback on the mound for the Owls to even his record at 1-1 on the spring, as he allowed four earned runs over the first 2 /13 innings of work.

Westfield State grabbed a 1-0 lead in its first at-bat of the nightcap on a sacrifice fly by junior Pat McWilliams (Duxbury, Mass.), and the Owls extended that margin to 3-0 in the second on an RBI double by junior Jeremy Tanguay (Huntington, Mass.), who then scored on a run-scoring single off the bast of sophomore Tyler Adams (West Barnstable, Mass.).  Massachusetts Maritime got on the board in the fourth on Lee’s sacrifice fly, but the visitors iced their triumph with a five-run sixth inning rally, as a two-run single by McMillan and an RBI single by sophomore Dan McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) sandwiched a pair of errors in the frame.  Adams and Tanguay each had two hits as part of a 10-hit attack for Westfield State in support of Liimatainen, who allowed an unearned run and fanned five over the first six innings to improve to 2-1 on the season.  Freshman Daniel Avery (Milford, Mass.) allowed a pair of earned runs and struck out two over the first two innings of work to fall to 1-2 on the season for the Buccaneers.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts 24^th-ranked Tufts in a non-league outing on Monday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field beginning at 3:00 p.m., while Westfield State heads to New London, Conn. tomorrow afternoon to take on Coast Guard in a non-league contest that begins at 3:30 p.m.