No. 1 Castleton Eliminates No. 3 Thomas College From NAC Baseball Tournament
NO. 1 CASTLETON HOLDS OFF
NO. 3 THOMAS TO ADVANCE TO
NORTH ATLANTIC CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT GAME
CHICOPEE, MA, May 3, 2008 - Castleton senior left fielder Lauck Blake (Hartland, VT) delivered a clutch RBI double in the ninth and the top-seeded Spartans staved off elimination for the second straight game with a hard-fought 10-9 win over third-seeded Thomas College in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Baseball Tournament on Saturday night at Szot Park.
After dropping its first game of the tournament on Friday afternoon, Castleton (20-18) battled back with an 8-6 come-from-behind victory to oust No. 2 Elms College in the losers bracket on Saturday afternoon.
In its win over Thomas, Castleton plated four runs in the second and three more in the fifth to build what seemed to be a commanding 7-0 lead.
The Terriers, however, would not go away, as they plated one run in the bottom of the fifth, then plated three more runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to pull to within 9-7.
In the ninth, Castleton senior shortstop Anthony DiPietrantonio (Yorktown Heights, NY) smacked what proved to be a crucial, two-out single to left field, then motored all the way around from first to score the Spartans' 10th run on Blake's ensuing RBI double to right center field.
Although junior shortstop Jared Fieldsend (Somersworth, NH) delivered a two-out, RBI double down the right field line and junior center fielder Mike Chamard (Livermore Falls, ME) followed with a RBI single to center field, Castleton junior pitcher Rob Turner (Rutland, VT) induced a flyout to end the game.