MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Commodore Hendy Field, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:                   FITCHBURG STATE 4, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 3 (9 INNINGS)

                                                                              123          456          789                          R             H             E

Fitchburg State (13-13, 4-5 MASCAC)                    000          002          002          -               4              8              2

Massachusetts Maritime (7-15, 2-7 MASCAC)        020          000          001          -               3              6              2

BATTERIES

FIT:         Michal Mercier, Marshall Miller (8) and Erik DiMauro

MMA:       Corey Murphy, Nick Levitre (9) and William Shouldice, Wil Rodriguez (7)

GAME #2 FINAL:                   FITCHBURG STATE 12, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 1

                                                                           123          456          7                              R             H             E

Fitchburg State (14-13, 5-5 MASCAC)                 020          604          0              -               12            15            3

Massachusetts Maritime (7-16, 2-8 MASCAC)     000          010          0              -               1              1              4

BATTERIES

FIT:         Alexander Teal, Perry Russo (6), John Chase (7) and Will Comerford, Erik DiMauro (5)

MMA:       David Hike, Louis Ottino (4), Tyler Genereux (6), Jared Lowe (6), Tim Moore (7) and Wil Rodriguez

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Senior Matt Morrison’s (Beverly, Mass.) two-run double in the top of the ninth inning snapped a 2-2 tie and lifted Fitchburg State to a 4-3 opening game triumph over Massachusetts Maritime in a Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader played Saturday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field, as freshman Alexander Teal (Malden, Mass.) gave the Falcons a sweep of the twinbill by allowing one hit over five innings and fanning five in a 12-1 nightcap victory.

The visiting Falcons (14-13, 5-5 MASCAC) overcame a 2-0 opening game deficit by plating the tying tallies in the top of the sixth on a two-run single off the bat of junior Ricky Graham (Walpole, Mass.) after the host Buccaneers (7-16, 2-8 MASCAC) had taken the early two-run advantage on an error and a sacrifice fly by sophomore William Shouldice (Rutland, Vt.) in the bottom of the second.  A one-out double by junior Erik DiMauro (Foxboro, Mass.) and an error set the table for Morrison’s heroics in the ninth, as his two-bagger gave Fitchburg State a 4-2 lead, and that second run proved to be valuable when junior Greg Wiggin (Marshfield, Mass.) led off the bottom of the ninth for Massachusetts Maritime with a triple and scored on fellow junior Andrew Saari’s (Framingham, Mass.) sacrifice fly, but the hosts were unable to put the tying run on base.

Junior Brian Ware (Beverly, Mass.) collected two of Fitchburg State’s eight hits in the opening game victory, as senior Marshall Miller (Greenfield, Mass.) picked up the win with two innings in relief of sophomore Michal Mercier (Townsend, Mass.), who allowed a pair of unearned runs and fanned eight over the first seven innings for the Falcons.  Wiggin and fellow junior Michael Vargas (Natick, Mass.) each had two of Massachusetts Maritime’s six hits in the opening game setback, as junior Nick Levitre (Grafton, Mass.) took the loss on the mound for the Buccaneers in relief of junior Corey Murphy (East Wareham, Mass.), who scattered six hits over the first eight innings and struck out three.

Fitchburg State jumped out to 2-0 second inning lead in the nightcap on a Morrison RBI double and an error, and the Falcons broke things open with a six-run fourth inning rally supplied by a two-run double off the bat of junior Nick Rocheleau (Leominster, Mass.) and RBI singles by Ware, juniors John Phelan (Walpole, Mass.) and Andrew Foster (East Bridgewater, Mass.) as well as sophomore Bobby Ewing (South Dennis, Mass.).  Mercier’s two-run triple highlighted a four-run sixth frame for the visitors that closed out their scoring, as the lone Massachusetts Maritime run came in the fifth on an RBI groundout off the bat of junior Wil Rodriguez (Lowell, Mass.).

Foster went 4-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs in the nightcap triumph for Fitchburg State, which also received three hits and three RBI from Rocheleau as well as two hits each from Ware and Mercier in support of Teal, who walked only one and picked up his second win of the season for the Falcons.  Saari’s first inning single was the lone safety of the second contest for Massachusetts Maritime, as senior David Hike (Riverview, Fla.) allowed five earned runs over 3 1/3 innings in suffering the setback on the mound for the Buccaneers.

Massachusetts Maritime heads to Bridgewater, Mass. on Tuesday afternoon to take on Bridgewater State in a MASCAC twinbill that begins at 2:00 p.m., while Fitchburg State heads to Worcester, Mass. on Tuesday afternoon for a MASCAC doubleheader with Worcester State that also begins at 2:00 p.m. at Holy Cross’ Fitton Field.