O'Hare's Opening Game Walk Off Double Lifts Baseball To Split Of MASCAC Doubleheader Decision With Salem State

O'Hare's Opening Game Walk Off Double Lifts Baseball To Split Of MASCAC Doubleheader Decision With Salem State

MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Friday, April 14, 2017

Commodore Hendy Field, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

 

GAME #1 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 2, SALEM STATE 1 (8 INNINGS)

 

GAME #2 FINAL:          SALEM STATE 6, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 4

                                                                       
    

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Freshman Ethan O’Hare’s (Marshfield, Mass.) double to left center with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning plated the winning run that lifted Massachusetts Maritime to a 2-1 victory over Salem State in the opener of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader Friday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field.  In the nightcap, the Vikings received three hits and a pair of RBI from senior Colton Fontaine (Newburyport, Mass.) in overcoming a 3-0 third inning deficit to post a 6-4 triumph and gain a split of the twinbill.

 

The host Buccaneers (8-9, 3-3 MASCAC) took a 1-0 first inning lead in the opener when junior Connor Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) laced a double down the left field line, advanced to third on a sacrifice and scored on junior Logan Sullo’s (Acushnet, Mass.) groundout, and that score held up until the fifth when the visiting Vikings (15-13, 4-2 MASCAC) took advantage of a two-out error and plated the tying tally on sophomore Brendan Greene’s (Winchester, Mass.) RBI single to right field.  Massachusetts Maritime loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with one out but wasn’t able to capitalize, and after Greene was stranded at second base in the top of the eighth, sophomore Kevin Troy (Braintree, Mass.) was hit by a pitch and scored on O’Hare’s double to the left center field fence for the walk-off triumph.

 

Kennedy and Troy each had two hits as part of a six-hit attack in the lid-lifter for Massachusetts Maritime, while Greene accounted for half of Salem State’s hit total in the opener.  Buccaneer senior Daniel Avery (Milford, Mass.) locked up in a pitcher’s duel with Viking sophomore Stephen Keskinidis (Stoneham, Mass.) for the first six-plus frames, as Avery went the distance in allowing four hits and an unearned run while striking out a career-high 12 to improve to 3-1 on the season.  Keskinidis also allowed just four hits and fanned five over six innings of work for Salem State, as senior Tim Woods (Wilmington, Mass.) surrendered O’Hare’s game-winning double to fall to 0-2 on the spring.

 

Kennedy gave Massachusetts Maritime a 1-0 lead in its first at-bat of the nightcap with a solo homer (his first of the season) down the left field line, and the Buccaneers extended that margin to 3-0 in the second on an RBI single by junior Casey Furnas (Boca Raton, Fla.) along with a fielder’s choice by sophomore Robert Dembitzki (North Dartmouth, Mass.).  The Vikings crept back to within one in the top of the third on an RBI single by senior Dan Connors (Danvers, Mass.) and a run-scoring double off the bat of senior Joe Kasper (Lynn, Mass.), and Salem State evened matters in the fourth on junior Tyler Galimi’s (Northbridge, Mass.) RBI single.  The visitors took the lead for good in the fifth on a run-scoring triple by sophomore Joe White (Bellingham, Mass.) that was followed by a two-run single from Fontaine, as the hosts got back to within the final margin in the sixth on freshman Nick Haley’s (Hanson, Mass.) sacrifice fly but could get no closer.

 

Connors, Galimi and junior Alex Toomey (Beverly, Mass.) each had two hits as part of a 12-hit Viking attack in the nightcap in support of junior Steve Leavitt (Peabody, Mass.), who allowed seven hits and struck out four over six-plus innings to improve to 2-3 on the season.  Freshman JP Reiling (Nahant, Mass.) came on to strike out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh for Salem State, as he left the tying run at the plate to earn his first career save.  Junior Justin Nichols (Adams, Mass.), the second of six Massachusetts Maritime pitchers used in the contest, allowed two earned runs over 1 1/3 innings of relief to suffer the setback on the mound, as freshman Andrew Auld (Wakefield, Mass.) fanned one and allowed two runs over the first three frames for the Buccaneers.

 

Massachusetts Maritime heads to North Adams, Mass. on Monday afternoon to take on MCLA in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m., while Salem State hosts Westfield State in a MASCAC twinbill on Monday afternoon in Salem, Mass. that begins at Noon.