PLYMOUTH – The Plymouth State University baseball team had no luck recovering from a loss in their first game of the day, as St. Joseph’s finished the sweep with a 12-6 victory Sunday afternoon at Panther Park.
Ben Muniz and Luke Enman combined for five hits and four runs batted in for the Monks, including a home run and double each. Josh Labossiere provided two hits for the Panthers, driving in two runs on a home run.
The Panthers ran into trouble right from the beginning. Rookie starter Jay Kleponis loaded the bases early before Junior Chris Doughty singled, putting the Monks on the board. Charlie Furbush then singled, driving in two more to make it 3-0. An error and a passed ball gave the Monks two more runs, leaving the Panthers down 5-0 after half an inning.
The Monks bats remained hot come the second inning. Kleponis picked up a ground out before issuing back-to-back home runs to Ben Muniz and Luke Enman, increasing St. Joseph’s lead to seven. The Panthers finally responded in the bottom of the inning, as doubles by Adam Kobeski and Jamie Aceto and hits from Justin Flanagan and Zach Nolda earned Plymouth two runs, while another run in the third made it 7-3.
The Monks opened the fourth inning with more trouble for the Panthers. A hit for Muniz and an error at center field put two runners in scoring position. Furbush then stepped up with a single, driving in two more runs to give the Monks a comfortable 9-3 lead. The offense kept coming for St. Joseph’s an inning later, with hits by Jake Rodden, Muniz, and Enman plating three more runs to make it 12-3.
The Panthers picked up two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning when Josh Labossiere hit a two-run home run, giving him two for the twinbill. Panthers pitching shut down the Monks for the rest of the way, but Plymouth managed just one run in the bottom of the seventh inning, leaving them six runs short as St. Joseph’s recorded the final out.
Both teams used several pitchers, with junior Ben Cutter picking up the win in relief for the Monks and Kleponis taking the loss for the Panthers.
The home opener losses bring the Panthers to a 6-10 mark overall for the season, while remaining 1-1 in the LEC. The Monks advance to a 9-5 record. Plymouth State played Keene State on Wednesday and Becker Thursday, and will return home for a doubleheader against Eastern Connecticut tomorrow at noon.
***************************GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTSPRESS RELEASE
PSU had a 2-1 lead through four innings of the opener, but the Monks rallied with three runs in the fifth inning, one in the sixth and four more in the seventh and final frame. Sophomore Luke Enman (Milan, N.H.) led Saint Joe’s with three hits and three RBI, while senior Ben Muniz (Readfield, Maine) added two hits and a walk and scored three runs and junior Chris Doughty (Windham, Maine) chipped in with a pair of RBI singles.
Freshman Josh Labossiere (Lincoln, R.I.) accounted for both Panther runs. He led off the first inning with a walk, went to second on a balk, stole third, and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior C.J. Rousseau (Merrimack, N.H.) Labossiere then cracked his first career home run in the third inning, the first of two round-trippers on the day.
Sophomore Charlie Furbush (South Portland, Maine) started and won the opener for the Monks, improving his record to 3-1. He gave up two hits, two walks and two runs in four innings while striking out five. Junior Tim Conway (Bedford, N.H./West) started and took the loss for PSU.