MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Commodore Hendy Field, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

FINAL:                    COAST GUARD 9, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 7

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Sophomore Matt Hanks’s (Chesapeake, Va.) sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh snapped a 7-7 tie and propelled Coast Guard to a 9-7 non-league college baseball victory over Massachusetts Maritime Thursday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field.

The visiting Bears (21-11) tied the school record for wins in a season (first set in 1994 and matched in 2011) in claiming their fourth straight triumph, as Coast Guard took an early edge in its first at-bat when sophomore Tim Betts (Fort Myers, Fla.) drew a bases loaded walk and extended that lead to 2-0 in the third on an error.  The host Buccaneers (7-14) evened matters in the third when senior Aram Mulhern (Taunton, Mass.) scored on a wild pitch and freshman Matt King (Scituate, Mass.) followed with a sacrifice fly, but the Bears regained a 3-2 advantage in the fourth when senior Joe Petry (Worcester, Mass.) reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a double off the bat of sophomore Dan Sabourin (St. Paul, Minn.).

Massachusetts Maritime took its first lead of the day in the bottom of the fourth when freshman Gregory Downs (Marshfield, Mass.) blasted his first collegiate home run, a two-run shot to left, and the hosts added two more tallies in the frame on an RBI single by freshman Michael Lenane (Dorchester, Mass.) and a fielder’s choice on a double steal attempt.  Coast Guard answered back with a pair of runs in the fifth on an RBI double off the bat of senior Ed Sella (Silver Spring, Md.), who later scored on a wild pitch, and the visitors regained the lead at 7-6 in the sixth on bases loaded walks issued to senior Mike Massaro (Sewell, N.J.) and junior Lukas Laplante (Leeds, Mass.).  The Buccaneers forged that 7-7 deadlock in the bottom of the sixth on Mulhern’s run-scoring double, but the Bears took the lead for good in the seventh when Petry singled, advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on Sabourin’s single before scoring on Hanks’s sacrifice fly.  Sabourin provided an insurance run later in the inning on a throwing error, as Massachusetts Maritime had the tying runs on base in the ninth before senior Derek Petty (Parker, Colo.) came on to record the final two outs to earn the save and seal the record-tying triumph.

Sabourin, Sella, senior Tyler Babkiewich (Golden, Colo.) and freshman Kyle Wood (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) each had two hits as part of a 12-hit attack for Coast Guard, as sophomore Anthony Martin (Fredericksburg, Va.) earned the victory on the mound for the Bears with 2 1/3 innings of relief work.  Petty earned his second save of the spring for the visitors, as he and sophomore Andrew Lucak (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) combined to allow two hits over the final three frames.  Mulhern and sophomore Bobby Rosano (North Reading, Mass.) each had three hits as part of a 12-hit effort at the plate for Massachusetts Maritime, as Lenane chipped in with a pair of safeties as well for the hosts.  Junior Chris Gallagher (East Sandwich, Mass.) suffered the setback on the mound for the Buccaneers, as he allowed an earned run in the seventh to fall to 0-3 on the season.

Massachusetts Maritime heads to Worcester, Mass. on Saturday afternoon for a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Worcester State beginning at Noon, while Coast Guard travels to Babson Park, Mass. on Friday afternoon to begin a three-game New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference weekend set with Babson that begins at 3:30 p.m.