Baseball Falls To Becker In NECC Championship Game
NO. 2 ELMS COLLEGE FALLS TO
NO. 3 BECKER COLLEGE, 13-5
IN NECC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
BENNINGTON, VT, May 3, 2009 - Becker College Jairo Valdez (Lynn, MA) went 5 for 6 with three runs scored, freshman catcher Weston Meehan (Thomson, GA) blasted a pair of solo home runs and freshman pitcher Cody Harmes (Strasburg, PA) threw a complete-game to help the No. 3 Hawks pull away to a 13-5 baseball win over No. 2 Elms College in the title game of the inaugural New England Collegiate Conference Championship on Sunday at Epstein Field on the campus of Southern Vermont College.
The Blazers, who needed to win four straight games after falling to Becker in the first game of the three-day tournament, had twice staved off elimination on Saturday following a 12-3 win over No. 4 Mitchell and a 10-8 victory over top-seeded Southern Vermont. Elms College concluded its most successful season in program-history at 18-19 overall.
Becker (17-14-1) won all three of its games at the championship, including two wins over Elms College, en route to the conference's inaugural title.
In Sunday's championship game, the Blazers jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead after the first inning. The Hawks began to peck away at the deficit with single runs in both the second and third innings, then scored twice in the fourth, once in the fifth and twice more in the sixth to take command.
Becker then put the game out of reach with a four-run eighth inning.
In the loss, freshmen second baseman Brendan Cordeiro (Berkley, MA) went 3 for 5, including a double and a solo homer - the first of his collegiate career, freshman third baseman Nicolino Iavicoli (Hampden, MA) went 2 for 4, and sophomore first baseman Albert Betances (Haverhill, MA) had solo home run.
Cordeiro, Betances and freshman pitcher Zach LeBarron (Bennington, VT), who earned the victory over Mitchell in Elms College's first elimination game, were all named to the NECC All-Tournament Team.