Becker College Plates Five Runs Late to Best Baseball, 6-1

NASHUA, N.H. – Elms College junior pitcher Curtis LeBeau (Auburn, Mass.) pitched 7.2 innings and struck out two and freshman right fielder Dan McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) was 2 for 3 with an RBI but Becker College used a two-run eighth and a three-run ninth inning and a complete-game effort from Tony Cantalupo (DePere, Wisc.) to help the fourth-seeded Hawks to a 6-1 victory over the third-seeded Blazers in Saturday morning's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament elimination game at Harvey Woods Field.

With the loss, Elms concludes its season 19-19 overall and will await a possible selection to the ECAC Championship tournament. Becker improves to 12-25 on the season and will continue tournament action Saturday against the loser of the No. 1 Daniel Webster College and No. 2 Mitchell College contest at 4:00 p.m.

After two scoreless innings of play, Becker drew first blood in the top of the third frame when Todd Tompkins (West Haven, Conn.) connected for a one-out single, moved to second on a single to left by Tony D'Addio (West Haven, Conn.), advanced to third on a fielder's choice by Mike Marcello (West Haven, Conn.) and then scored on a run-scoring base hit to left by Tom Natoli (Suffern, N.Y.) to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Elms got the run back in the bottom of the fifth when freshman second baseman Aedin Wadja (Lebanon, Conn.) legged-out a two-out double to left field and then scored on an RBI single off the bat of McCormack to tie the game at 1-1.

Becker twice had opportunities to score but CJ Flanders (Londonderry, N.H.), who walked in the top of the sixth was thrown out at the plate by Elms' freshman left fielder RJ Lyrenmann (Glendale, Ariz.). The Hawks again had a runner thrown out at the plate in the top of the seventh when Blazers' junior catcher Zachary Dreher (Naugatuck, Conn.) made a terrific tag on Tompkins who tried to beat McCormack's throw from right field.

LeBeau cruised through the first seven frames allowing just the one run before Becker pushed across two in the top of the eighth. Flanders and Austin Phillips (Thomson, Ga.) reached on back-to-back, one-out singles and Eric Lajoie (Oakham, Mass.) later reached on a two-out error to load the bases. A single up the middle by Tompkins allowed two runners to score and gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead.

Elms put two runners on in the bottom of the eighth when Wadja singled and McCormack drew a walk, but a fielder's choice and a double-play ended the threat.

Becker then tacked on three in the top of the ninth on the strength of RBI singles from Natoli and Shaun Millerick (Hampton, N.H.) and a run scored on an error to lift the lead to 6-1.

Blazers' senior center fielder Stephen Fisher (West Boylston, Mass.) ripped a one-out single to left in the bottom of the ninth but was stranded there as the next two batters were retired to end the game.

Marcello was 3 for 5, while Tompkins, Natoli, Flanders and Millerick each collected two hits. Phillips was 4 for 5 in the contest with a run scored.

Cantalupo (4-4) allowed one run on eight hits and struck out six batters. LeBeau suffered the loss allowing three runs (one earned) on 13 hits in 7.2 frames of work to move to 3-4 on the season. Senior reliever Ryan Burnette (Chicopee, Mass.) allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits in 1.1 innings of relief.

McCormack, junior designated hitter Sam Farnsworth (Westfield, Mass.) and Wadja had two hits apiece in the losing effort.