NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA – Mother Nature herself could not stop the baseball teams as Plymouth State University and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth split their double-billing 13-18 and 9-7 on Saturday afternoon.
31 runs were scored and ERA’s suffered mightily in what proved to be an all-out slugfest for both teams in Game One, that featured 20 hits by both teams. UMass Dartmouth did suppress a late rally by the Panthers; however, and took the offensive contest 18-13.
Junior outfielder Kevin Narey had three hits and knocked in two runs for the Corsairs and junior Catcher Billy Reiss had an enormous Game One as he went four-for-six with five RBI’s and scored three runs including a second inning solo homerun. Other offensive leaders for the Corsairs included first-year Jeff Macchi, who went four-or-five and also had a homer in the second inning, and sophomore second baseman Dave Ogorzalek, who snatched a first inning homerun to spark the offensive fire for the day and frustrate PSU starter Taylor Ketchum, who gave up 10 runs on nine hits through his five innings of work.
The scoring did not stop with UMass Dartmouth; however, as it was a tough day to be a pitcher on both sides. Senior Josh Labossiere led the staunch PSU attack with four hits and three RBI’s, including a triple, third baseman Jay Kleponis had four RBI’s to go along with his three-for-six game one at the plate as well as outfielder Marc McGinnis’ four-for-four day at the plate and three runs scored. Despite the lack of pitching, UMass Dartmouth’s Brian Maloney (2-2) collected his second win of the young campaign with a six inning performance, giving up nine hits and four earned runs, and Ketchum (1-1) took the loss for the Panthers.
The Corsairs jumped out to a 10-0 lead before the Panthers were able to get on the board in the fifth inning by putting up three runs. It was a back and forth affair from then on as the Corsairs would increase their lead and the Panthers would hack back into it. A seven-run seventh inning cut the UMass lead to 13-11, but the Corsairs assault proved to be all conquering as they pulled away with three runs in the eighth and then shut the door with two more in the ninth.
In the nightcap, the offense settled a little but still maintained its chokehold on the day’s contests. After getting out to a 6-0 lead, the Corsairs gave it up to a resilient Panthers’ offense that scored six times in the seventh to take the 8-7 lead. Junior Chip Hale (3-4) earned the victory from the bullpen as starter Adam Neshe was chased after pitching four innings giving up five earned runs on five hits. Hale then pitched a masterful one-hit performance through three innings and closed the door in the ninth to earn the win.
Ogorzalek hit his second homer of the day in the sixth for the UMass squad and junior designated hitter Dylan Zygmont went one-for-four with a two-run double within the 6-0 start for UMass. Third baseman Ried Burns had three hits on the day and one run knocked in to lead the hitting for the Corsairs. Starting pitcher Dave McGuire went six and one-third innings giving up seven hits and six runs but was not involved in the decision, instead, junior right-hander Brian Vanasse took the loss to drop to 0-4 on the season.
For PSU, third baseman Steve Pico went two-for-three with four RBI’s and one run scored to lead the Panthers evening offense and Labossiere, once again had multiple hits with three. Brandon Hodge and John “Pogo” Pogorzelski had critical run-scoring doubles, also, and with two hits and three RBI’s was catcher Craig Carpenter for the Panthers in the win.
The UMD Corsairs are now 6-14 and 3-5 in the LEC after the weekend split while PSU moves forward at 7-12 and 3-3 in the LEC. UMD hosted Springfield on Sunday and PSU traveled to Colby-Sawyer on Thursday for a 3:30 start. The Panthers will travel to MerchantsAuto.Com Stadium, home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, to face LEC arch-rival Keene State College at 1:00 P.M on Friday afternoon.