MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Riccards Field, Fitchburg, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:                 MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 7, FITCHBURG STATE 6 (8 INNINGS)

                                                                            123         456         78                           R             H             E            

Massachusetts Maritime (6-11, 2-3 MASCAC)      210         200         11           -               7              15           4

Fitchburg State (10-12-1, 1-4 MASCAC)              102         021         00           -               6              8              1

BATTERIES

MMA:      Zacary Cooney, Kyle Kennedy (5) and Matt Pelletier

FIT:         Pat Mercier, Javier Lozada (7), Max Tejeda (8), Dylan Smith (8) and Matt Zajac, Brendan Cutler (8)

WP:         Kennedy (2-2)                      LP:          Tejeda (0-2)

GAME #2 FINAL:                 MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 7, FITCHBURG STATE 0

                                                                           123         456         7                              R             H             E            

Massachusetts Maritime (7-11, 3-3 MASCAC)     021         310         0              -               7              10           1

Fitchburg State (10-13-1, 1-5 MASCAC)            000         000         0              -               0              0              2

BATTERIES

MMA:      T.J. Notarangelo and Ben Maher, Matt Pelletier (4)

FIT:         Cody Bamforth, Max Tejeda (5), Brendan Cutler (6) and Matt Zajac

WP:         Notarangelo (2-0)                                LP:          Bamforth (0-4)    

FITCHBURG, Mass. --  Sophomore righthander T.J. Notarangelo (Foxboro, Mass.) threw the fifth no-hitter in school history and the first in 11 years as Massachusetts Maritime completed a sweep of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader from Fitchburg State with a 7-0 nightcap triumph at Riccards Field.  The Buccaneers received an RBI single from sophomore Bobby Rosano (North Reading, Mass.) in the eighth inning of the opener to notch a 7-6 come-from-behind triumph in extra frames.

Notarangelo became the first hurler to toss a no-hitter for the visiting Buccaneers (7-11, 3-3 MASCAC) since George Scharrenwebber tossed a gem on April 6, 2002 in a 3-0 victory at Westfield State, which also came in the second game of a league twinbill.  Notarangelo fanned a pair and overcame four walks while throwing 90 pitches (54 strikes) to improve to 2-0 on the season, and he was helped in the field by a pair of defensive plays by Rosano, who snared a line drive in the fourth and started a double play in the fifth that ended a rally.

“T.J.’s command was very impressive today, but his poise was extraordinary,” Massachusetts Maritime Head Coach Bob Corradi, who has seen all five Buccaneer no-hitters in his 41 seasons at the helm, said of Notarangelo after the game.  “He has been solid for us all year long, but today he took it to a new level.  His confidence kept building as the game went along, and I’m just so happy for him on this milestone.”

Massachusetts Maritime provided Notarangelo with all of the run support he would need in the second inning on an RBI double by Rosano and a run-scoring groundout by freshman Michael Lenane (Dorchester, Mass.), and after freshman Jake Petruzzelli’s (Abington, Mass.) RBI double in the third extended the Buccaneer lead to 3-0, the visitors took control in the middle innings with three more runs in the fourth on a two-run single off the bat of senior Tyler Genereux (Duxbury, Mass.) and another tally in the fifth on Lenane’s RBI single.  Notarangelo set the side down in order four times on the day, and he worked around a pair of walks in the bottom of the seventh before inducing a game-ending pop-up to finish his gem.

Rosano collected three of Massachusetts Maritime’s 10 hits in the nightcap triumph, while Genereux and Petruzzelli each rapped out two safeties for the Buccaneers.  Senior Cody Bamforth (Vernon, Conn.) allowed five earned runs over the first four frames of the second contest to suffer the setback on the mound for the host Falcons (10-13-1, 1-5 MASCAC), as he fell to 0-4 on the spring.

Massachusetts Maritime jumped out to a 2-0 lead in its first at-bat of the opener on RBI singles by Genereux and junior Ben Maher (Plymouth, Mass.), but Fitchburg State got a run back in the bottom of the inning on an error.  The Buccaneers countered in the second on a sacrifice fly by junior Bob Lee (Braintree, Mass.) to take a 3-1 advantage, but the Falcons evened matters in the third on an RBI triple by Bamforth, who scored on a groundout off the bat of junior David Mason (Leominster, Mass.).  The visitors regained a two-run edge in the fourth on RBI singles by Rosano and Genereux, but the hosts again tied things at 5-5 in the fifth on a run-scoring double by Mason, who evened matters on Zajac’s two-out RBI single.

Fitchburg State took a 6-5 lead in the sixth on Bamforth’s run-scoring single, but Massachusetts Maritime came back to force extra innings in the seventh on senior Zachary Sullivan’s (Barnstable, Mass.) RBI single, and the Buccaneers plated the deciding tally in the eighth when senior Aram Mulhern (Taunton, Mass.) drew a lead-off walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Rosano’s RBI single.  Freshman Kyle Kennedy (Woodbury, Conn.) pitched a perfect bottom half of the frame to close out four solid relief innings and give the visitors the opening triumph.

Rosano and Genereux each rapped out three hits and drove in two runs as part of a season-high 15-hit attack in the lid-lifter for Massachusetts Maritime, as the duo finished with a combined 11 hits in the doubleheader.  Maher, Sullivan and Mulhern added two hits each in the first contest for the Buccaneers, as Kennedy allowed three hits and struck out three to even his record at 2-2 on the season in relief of sophomore Zacary Cooney (East Bridgewater, Mass.), who fanned a pair over the first four frames.  Bamforth recorded three of Fitchburg State’s eight hits in the opening game setback, as sophomore Max Tejeda (Acton, Mass.) allowed Rosano’s game-winning single in the top of the eighth to take the loss and fall to 0-2 on the spring.  Senior Pat Mercier (Townsend, Mass.) went the first 6 1/3 innings on the mound for the Falcons and fanned five in getting the no-decision.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Westfield State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Monday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field beginning at Noon, while Fitchburg State hosts Framingham State in a MASCAC twinbill at Riccards Field on Monday afternoon that also begins at Noon.