Walk-Off Wild Pitch Gives Baseball First MASCAC Sweep Of Worcester State In Eight Seasons

MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Commodore Hendy Field, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 11, WORCESTER STATE 6

GAME #2 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 5, WORCESTER STATE 4

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Freshman Robert Dembitzki (North Dartmouth, Mass.) scored the winning run on a walk-off wild pitch with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead Massachusetts Maritime to a 5-4 nightcap victory and a sweep of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader from Worcester State Sunday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field.  In the opener, freshman Riley Fusaro (Nantucket, Mass.) drove in three runs in support of fellow freshman Brian Kwedor (Marshfield, Mass.) to give the Buccaneers an 11-6 triumph.

The host Buccaneers (12-8, 4-0 MASCAC) trailed 2-0 in the nightcap before evening matters on an RBI single by junior Jake Petruzzelli (Abington, Mass.) in the third and a run-scoring single by freshman Paul Sances (Middleboro, Mass.) in the fourth.  The visiting Lancers (10-12, 1-3 MASCAC) regained a 4-2 cushion in the fifth on an RBI triple by senior John Boyd (Worcester, Mass.) and an error, but Massachusetts Maritime knotted the score in the bottom of the frame on a bases-loaded walk to Sances and an infield single off the bat of sophomore Billy Keane (Braintree, Mass.).  Worcester State had the go-ahead runs at second and third in the top of the seventh but was unable to score, and senior Everett Walsh (Marstons Mills, Mass.) started the decisive rally in the bottom of the inning for the Buccaneers with a single to right field.  Dembitzki pinch-ran for Walsh and went to second on sophomore Logan Sullo’s (Acushnet, Mass.) single, and after a Sances sacrifice advanced the runners, Keane drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch that sailed to the back stop, allowing Dembitzki to score the winning run and give the hosts their first doubleheader sweep of the Lancers in eight years.

Sophomore Connor Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) joined Petruzzelli, Sullo and Sances with two hits each as part of an 11-hit nightcap attack for Massachusetts Maritime, as senior Kyle Kennedy (Woodbury, Conn.) struck out five of the nine batters he faced over the final two innings in relief to improve to 2-1 on the season.  Kyle Kennedy has started conference play with a win and two saves in three appearances, as he has struck out eight in four innings of work in MASCAC action.  Senior Kevin Kwedor (Marshfield, Mass.) allowed three earned runs and fanned six over the first five frames for the Buccaneers, who are off to their best start ever in conference play and are riding a school-record 10-game MASCAC-winning streak that dates back to April 18^th of last season.

Barry rapped out three of Worcester State’s eight hits in the second contest, as junior Jake Ryan (Northbridge, Mass.) added a pair of hits and two runs in the setback.  Junior Neil Begley (Springfield, Mass.), the third of four Lancer pitchers in the nightcap, fell to 1-1 on the season, as he allowed Walsh’s single to open the seventh inning.

Massachusetts Maritime jumped out to a 3-0 second inning lead in the opener on a pair of sacrifice flies by Fusaro and Connor Kennedy that followed a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch by junior Tommy Walls (Hawthorne, N.J.), but Worcester State got a pair of runs back in the third on Ryan’s two-run triple.  The Buccaneers broke things open with a six-run rally in the bottom of the frame highlighted by Fusaro’s two-run single and Connor Kennedy’s second sacrifice fly of the day that followed an RBI single off the bat of senior Greg Downs (Marshfield, Mass.), and after junior Brian Bonacquisti’s (Pittsfield, Mass.) RBI single in the fourth provided the visitors’ third run of the lid-lifter, the hosts added single tallies in the fifth on Sullo’s RBI single and sixth on Walls’s sacrifice fly.  The Lancers struck for three runs in the seventh to account for the final margin on a bases-loaded walk to freshman George Bielizna (Danbury, Conn.) that was followed by run-scoring singles off the bats of junior Mike Powers (Weymouth, Mass.) and freshman Mike Ferrara (Easton, Mass.), but Brian Kwedor ended Worcester State’s rally with a strikeout and the potential tying run in the on-deck circle.

Keane paced an 11-hit Massachusetts Maritime attack with three hits in the opening game triumph, while Petruzzelli and Sances chipped in with two hits each in support of Brian Kwedor, who allowed four earned runs and struck out four in going the distance to improve to 3-0 on the mound for the Buccaneers.  Ryan was a perfect 4-for-4 in the lid-lifter and reached base eight times in the twinbill overall for Worcester State, which also received a pair of first-game hits from Ferrara as part of an eight-hit attack.  Freshman Kyle Sullivan (Hudson, Mass.) allowed three earned runs over the first 2 1/3 innings of work for the Lancers to fall to 1-3 overall on the season.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Suffolk in a non-league outing on Tuesday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field beginning at 3:30 p.m., while Worcester State entertains Amherst on Tuesday afternoon in a non-league clash in Worcester, Mass. that also begins at 3:30 p.m.