Walk-Off Single In 10th Lifts Fitchburg State University Over Baseball, 8-7

Box Score

FITCHBURG, Mass. – After rallying to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, Fitchburg State University's David Mason (Leominster, Mass.) connected for a walk-off single in the 10^th frame to lift the Falcons to an 8-7 victory over Elms College in Thursday afternoon's non-conference baseball game at Riccards Field in Fitchburg, Mass.

With the loss, Elms falls to 9-12 on the season, while Fitchburg State improves to 11-11 overall.

Trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth, Fitchburg State's Eric O'Reilly (Gardner, Mass.) hit a one-out single to left field and was then pinch-run for by Michal Mercier (Townsend, Mass.). A walk to Brian Ware (Beverly, Mass.) put runners on first and second for John Phelan (Walpole, Mass.) who delivered an RBI single to right field, scoring Mercier to knot the game at 7-7. From there, Elms' freshman reliever Carlos Camacho (Springfield, Mass.) entered in favor of junior lefty Andrew Bunger (Southington, Conn.) and issued a strikeout and forced a fly out to send the game to extra innings.

After the Blazers were retired in order in the top of the 10^th, Fitchburg State's Dave Alexander (Torrington, Conn.) earned a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cody Bamforth (Vernon, Conn.) and following a free pass to Matt Zajac (New Hartford, Conn.), scored on a Mason's game-winning base hit to right field which lifted the Falcons to a thrilling 8-7 victory.

Camacho suffered the loss for the Blazers and moves to 0-2 on the season, while Fitchburg State reliever Marshall Miller (Greenfield, Mass.) improved to 2-0 on the season.

The Falcons crossed the plate first with three runs in the bottom of the third inning before Elms responded in the top of the fourth with a five-run stanza. Blazers' senior shortstop Brendan Cordeiro (Berkley, Mass.) cracked a bases-loaded single to left field scoring freshman right fielder Alex King (Lebanon, Conn.), before sophomore center fielder Stephen Fisher (West Boylston, Mass.) drove in a run on a walk. A sacrifice fly off the bat of junior third baseman Nicolino Iavicoli (Hampden, Mass.) knotted the game at 3-3 before junior left fielder Donald Morse (Alfred, Maine) ripped a two-run single to left field scoring Brendan Cordeiro and Fisher to give Elms a 5-3 lead.

Frank Yavorosky (Westminster, Mass.) tagged a one-out double in the bottom of the fourth inning before scoring when Alexander reached on two-base error to bring the Falcons to within one at 5-4.

Following a scoreless fifth frame, Morse delivered an RBI double to left field and later came full circle on an RBI single to right field by freshman Zachary Dreher (Naugatuck, Conn.) to lift the Blazers' lead to 7-4.

Fitchburg State answered with two runs in the home half of the fifth highlighted by a Phelan solo blast to set the score at 7-6 in favor of Elms before the Falcons mustered their final comeback.

Morse led Elms' offensive effort going 3 for 5 with three RBI.

Phelan and Nick Rocheleau (Leominster, Mass.) drove in two runs each, while O'Reilly led six Fitchburg State batters with multi-hit games with a game-high four hits (4 for 5).

Elms returns to New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action on Saturday, April 16 with a doubleheader at Mitchell College beginning at 12:00 p.m. in New London, Conn. Game three will be played at MacKenzie Stadium in Holyoke, Mass. on Sunday, April 17 at 12:00 p.m.