Baseball Earns Doubleheader Sweep Of Daniel Webster With Pair of Walk-Off Wins

Box Scores

HOLYOKE, Mass. – Elms College senior first baseman Hector Roche (Bronx, N.Y.) scored on a walk-off balk in game two, and the Blazers used a walk-off sacrifice fly by freshman third baseman Zachary Dreher (Naugatuck, Conn.) in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead Elms to a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) doubleheader sweep of Daniel Webster College on Saturday afternoon at MacKenzie Stadium.

Elms won the first game 7-6 in eight innings before following with a 3-2 victory to improve to 15-18 overall, 7-10 in conference action. Daniel Webster slips to 18-13 on the season, 9-8 in NECC play.

Elms 7, Daniel Webster 6 (8 innings)

With the score knotted at 6-6 following seven innings of play, freshman designated hitter Anthony Pagano (Cranston, R.I.) doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and then scored when Dreher lofted a sacrifice fly to center field to give Elms a 7-6 win in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Senior left-handed starter Nick Cordeiro (Berkley, Mass.) tossed all eight innings and earned the win to improve to 5-2 overall.

Eagles' reliever Rich Lizzotte (West Warwick, R.I.) pitched the final 1.1 innings and suffered the loss to move to 0-2 on the season. Starter Kory Kiro (Goffstown, N.H.) struck out four batters over 6.1 innings in the no-decision.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second, Elms sent four across the dish when freshman right fielder Alex King (Lebanon, Conn.) drove in Dreher with a base hit and senior second baseman Brendan Cordeiro (Berkley, Mass.) drove in senior catcher Carm Bonavita (Springfield, Mass.) with a double. Sophomore center fielder Stephen Fisher (West Boylston, Mass.) then laced  a two-run triple to put Elms ahead 4-1.

Daniel Webster got the runs back when Elliot Kilgore (Milford, N.H.) doubled in Josh Chasse (Haverhill, Mass.), Korey LeLievre (Hudson, N.H.) delivered an RBI groundout, and Tyler Bonin (Litchfield, N.H.) drove in Bruce Brown (Lowell, Mass.) to even the game at 4-4.

The Eagles plated a run in the top of the fifth and sixth frames before Elms answered in the bottom of the seventh when junior shortstop Nicolino Iavicoli (Hampden, Mass.) smashed a two-run single, scoring Fisher and King who had reached earlier in the inning by way of walk and fielder's choice to set the score at 6-6 and force extra innings.

Fisher and Iavicoli drove in two runs each as Elms was limited to just six hits, while Brown went 3 for 4 with three runs scored for Daniel Webster in the opener.

Elms 3, Daniel Webster 2

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Elms' junior designated hitter Reynaldo Rivera (San Juan, Puerto Rico) doubled to lead off the inning and was pinch-run for by King. Roche then reached on an error by the pitcher on a sacrifice bunt attempt allowing King to score the tying run and Roche to move up to second base. A pinch-hit sacrifice bunt by Pagano moved Roche into scoring position who then scored on a walk-off balk and give Elms a 3-2 victory.

Elms' freshman starter Curtis LeBeau (Auburn, Mass.) tossed all seven innings and earned the win to improve to 2-5 on the season, while LeLievre suffered the loss for Daniel Webster after tossing 6.1 innings on the hill and is now 1-6 overall.

After three scoreless innings, the Eagles struck for two in the top of the fourth frame when Bonin delivered a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center which allowed a second run to score following a miscue on the relay to give Daniel Webster a 2-0 lead.

The Blazers answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth when Fisher led off with a single and moved to second on an infield error before Iavicoli drove him in on a double to set the score at 2-1.

Iavicoli finished with two of Elms' five hits, while Daniel Webster was limited to just six hits in the contest.

The sides will complete series in Nashua, N.H. on Sunday, May 1 with a single nine-inning game set for 12:00 p.m.