Baseball Outlasted By Becker College, 7-2
Baseball Outlasted By Becker College, 7-2
WORCESTER, Mass. – Elms College sophomore right fielder Donald Morse (Alfred, Maine) went 3 for 4 at the plate but Becker College used a pair of three-run innings to help the Hawks secure a 7-2 victory over the Blazers in Sunday afternoon’s New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) baseball game at Logan Field in Worcester, Mass.
With the loss, Elms moves to 5-15 overall, 1-5 in NECC action, while Becker improves to 6-10 on the season, 3-3 in league play.
Elms got off to a fast start in the top of the first when junior third baseman Hector Roche (Bronx, N.Y.) cracked a one-out single up the middle, then moved to second when senior first baseman Mike Andrews (Greenfield, Mass.) was hit by a pitch two batters later. Senior designated hitter Brian Marrero (Kendall Park, N.J.) then sent Roche home on an RBI base hit to center field giving the Blazers runners on the corners. Andrews was stranded there however as Becker starter Jheremy Brown (Agawam, Mass.) forced an inning-ending groundout.
Becker answered with a run in the home half of the first, and then struck for three runs an inning later giving the Hawks a 4-1 edge. Todd Tompkins (West Haven, Conn.) singled to center with one out and then advanced to second on a two-out free pass issued to Tony D’Addio (West Haven, Conn.). Both runners then scored on a bases-clearing triple to right field by Eric Lajoie (Oakham, Mass.), before Lajoie came full circle on an RBI single to right by Keith Kandel (Fresno, Calif.). From there, Blazers’ right-handed starter Mike Bieber (Wading River, N.Y.) forced a popup to end the frame without further damage.
Elms cut the deficit in half in the top of the third when junior shortstop Brendan Cordeiro (Berkley, Mass.) and Andrews connected for back-to-back base hits to lead off the inning. A groundout double play allowed Cordeiro to score pulling the Blazers to within two (4-2) before another groundout ended the rally.
The sides played three scoreless middle innings before Becker plated three in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead to 7-2. Austin Phillips (Thomson, Ga.), Ryan Sczerbinski (Cranston, R.I.) and Weston Meehan (Thomson, Ga.) each recorded RBI singles in the stanza to give the Hawks a five run cushion.
Brown, who pitched eight innings, including six scoreless, was replaced by Jeff DiLorenzo (Coventry, R.I.) in the ninth. DiLorenzo tossed a strikeout and allowed one hit in his inning of work to preserve the win.
Elms’ senior righty Dan Ingraham (Granby, Mass.) pitched the final 1.1 for the Blazers and gave up just one hit and struck out two in his sixth appearance of the season.
Brown earned his first victory of the season to move to 1-2 on the season, tossing six strikeouts in the process, while Bieber suffered the loss and moves to 0-4 overall. Bieber scattered six hits and struck out two batters in the losing effort.
Kandel, Phillips, Meehan, and Tompkins each contributed two hits for Becker, while Kandel scored two runs and Lajoie drove in two runs.
Cordeiro was 2 for 4 at the plate with a run scored in the loss for Elms.
Elms returns to non-conference action Thursday, April 15 when it hosts Fitchburg State College for a 7:30 p.m. contest at MacKenzie Stadium in Holyoke, Mass.
