MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME BASEBALL

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Central Campus Field, Salem, Mass.

GAME #1 FINAL:          SALEM STATE 5, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 3

GAME #2 FINAL:          MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 1, SALEM STATE 0

SALEM, Mass. --  Junior Daniel Avery (Milford, Mass.) tossed a complete-game two-hit shutout and struck out six as Massachusetts Maritime gained a split of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader with Salem State by notching a 1-0 nightcap victory Saturday afternoon at Central Campus Field.  The host Vikings rallied from a 2-1 deficit with a four-run third inning rally to notch a 5-3 triumph in the opening game of the twinbill between the league’s co-leaders.

The two squads were scoreless heading into the final frame of the second contest before senior Greg Downs (Marshfield, Mass.) led off the inning with a double for the visiting Buccaneers (13-10, 5-1 MASCAC), as he advanced to third on a bunt single by freshman Riley Fusaro (Nantucket, Mass.).  Sophomore Connor Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.), the reigning MASCAC Player of the Week, provided the heroics with an RBI single that plated the deciding run for Massachusetts Maritime, and Avery took care of the rest on the mound by working around a pair of walk in the bottom of the seventh to earn his third win in four decisions on the season.  In 13 conference innings pitched to date, Avery has allowed five hits and a run while striking out 12, as he scattered a pair of singles in his latest gem.  Downs and sophomore Logan Sullo (Acushnet, Mass.) each had two of the visitors’ seven nightcap safeties, as the Buccaneers have won 11 of their last 12 conference outings dating back to April 18^th of last year.  Sophomore Dan Connors (Danvers, Mass.) and freshman Joe White (Bellingham, Mass.) accounted for the host Vikings’ (11-14-1, 5-1 MASCAC) two hits off Avery, as senior Matt Abrain (Northbridge, Mass.) fanned a pair in going the distance on the mound for Salem State to fall to 0-2 on the spring.

Sophomore Cobie Gerbis (Holmes Beach, Fla.) staked Massachusetts Maritime to a 2-0 first inning lead in the opener with a two-run double, but the Vikings got a run back in the bottom of the frame on an error.  That 2-1 score held up until the fourth when Salem State strung six hits together in accounting for its four-run uprising, as sophomore Dom Rosado (Tewksbury, Mass.) gave the hosts a 3-2 edge with a two-run double before sophomore Alex Toomey (Beverly, Mass.) extended that margin to 5-2 with a two-run single.  The Buccaneers loaded the bases in the top of the seventh and got a run back on senior Everett Walsh’s (Marstons Mills, Mass.) RBI groundout, but that was as close as the visitors would come despite collecting 10 hits in the lid-lifter.

Senior Mike Davis (Peabody, Mass.) rapped out two of Salem State’s eight opening game hits in support of fellow senior Sean Buckland (Lynn, Mass.), who went the distance in working around four walks and struck out eight to improve to 5-0 on the season for the Vikings.  Sullo collected three hits in the opening setback for Massachusetts Maritime, which also received two hits each from Gerbis, Kennedy and junior Jake Petruzzelli (Abington, Mass.).  Senior Alex Rozak (Plymouth, Mass.) went the distance on the mound for the Buccaneers, allowing four earned runs and recording a strikeout to fall to 2-4 overall with the tough-luck decision.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts MCLA in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Monday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field beginning at 1:00 p.m., while Salem State heads to Westfield, Mass. on Monday afternoon to square off with Westfield State in a MASCAC twinbill that begins at Noon.