Kwedor, Cooney Combine For Solid Mound Effort To Lift Baseball Past Lebanon Valley

MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Holman Stadium, Vero Beach, Fla.

FINAL:              MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 5, LEBANON VALLEY 2

VERO BEACH, Fla. --  Junior Kevin Kwedor (Marshfield, Mass.) scattered six hits and struck out four over six innings of work, while senior Zac Cooney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) came on to get the last nine outs for his second save of the season in leading Massachusetts Maritime to a 5-2 non-league college baseball victory over Lebanon Valley Saturday afternoon at Holman Stadium inside the historic Dodgertown Complex.

The Buccaneers (2-1) jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the bottom of the third when senior Bobby Rosano (North Reading, Mass.) drew a one-out walk and scored on a fielding error on a ball hit by junior Alex Rozak (Plymouth, Mass.), who plated the second run on an RBI single off the bat of freshman Connor Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.).  The Dutchmen evened matters in the top of the fifth, as junior Greg Orlando (Newton, N.J.) and sophomore Zac Edwards (North Catasuqua, Pa.) reached on singles and scored on a two-out fielding error, but Massachusetts Maritime took the lead for good in the bottom of the frame when Rosano doubled down the left field line, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on an RBI groundout by freshman Drew Tardif (Yarmouth Port, Mass.).  The Buccaneers added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh, as senior Greg Downs (Marshfield, Mass.) hit a two-out, two-run double to center that plated Rozak and Rosano to account for the final score.

Downs went 3-for-4 to go with his two RBI to pace an eight-hit attack for Massachusetts Maritime, while Kwedor, who threw the 25^th perfect game in NCAA Division III history in a 4-0 win over MCLA last April, induced 10 ground ball outs and didn’t walk a batter in his season debut to earn the triumph for the Buccaneers.  Cooney allowed one hit and fanned a pair in picking up his second save in as many games, as he has retired 14 of 16 batters faced in the early going with three strikeouts.  Edwards and freshman Matt Smarkanic (Frackville, Pa.) each had two of Lebanon Valley’s seven hits on the afternoon, as sophomore Casey Wall (Colts Neck, N.J.) allowed three earned runs and struck out three over 6 1/3 innings to suffer the setback on the mound for the Dutchmen.

Massachusetts Maritime takes on Kenyon in a non-league doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at the Bob Gladwin Complex in Fort Pierce, Fla. beginning at 1:00 p.m., while Lebanon Valley squares off with Misericordia in a non-league outing on Monday morning in Fort Pierce, Fla. that begins at 10:00 a.m.

(Special thanks to Assistant Athletic Trainer Colleen Nolan for providing detailed statistics after every half inning today!)