PLYMOUTH – The Panthers needed a little help from UMass Dartmouth to slide into the last seed of the tournament, but their fate was sealed by Rhode Island College in Saturday’s doubleheader losses 3-1 and 12-6.
“We are tied with UMass Dartmouth currently; they play The University of Southern Maine today in a double header and depending on the results of both double headers. We may earn a sixth and last seed in the LEC tournament,” said Kent Cherrington, PSU’s Sports Information Director. “They have the conference tiebreaker, however, so if we were to finish with the same record, they would win the sixth seed.”
First-year starter Robert Germane was the story in game one for the Anchormen as he turned in a stellar seven-inning performance, shutting down the PSU offense and allowing only one run on five hits and striking out 12. PSU’s starter Chip Hale also engaged in the pitchers duel after a rocky start, allowing a first-inning run; but settling in and cruising through a complete game loss.
In the second, the scoring began with an RBI sacrifice fly by RIC’s junior Jim Connell to give the Anchormen a lead that they would not lose. In the third, a two-base throwing error that left sophomore Jeff Costa at second was followed by a Tim Henault RBI double to the gap and made it a 2-0 RIC advantage. The score remained 2-0 through the next four innings as Germane featured pinpoint control on his fastball and a knee-buckling twelve-to-six breaking ball; and the Panthers, seemingly, would have had more luck with a Rubix-Cube than Germane’s pitches.
In the top of the seventh, RIC extended their lead after an infield hit by Senior Jim Connell was cashed in on an RBI single, again, from Costa to make it 3-0, Anchormen. RIC could have scored more in the seventh, as they encountered a bases loaded and one out situation, but a smoothly turned four-six-three double play by the Panthers squelched the threat.
The Panthers were finally were able to get to Germane in the bottom-half of the seventh as Steve Campo, Dylan Mullin and Jared Leclaire loaded the bases with nobody out; then two strike-outs sandwiched an RBI fielder’s choice groundout by Craig Carpenter after a controversial call at second base made it a 3-1 RIC lead. Junior pitcher Evan Grogan replaced Germane in the eight and earned the six-out save as the Panthers dampen their playoff hopes and awaited the results of USM and UMD.
PSU honored the graduating seniors who were playing their final home games after Game One as five seniors were leaving. Tim Conway, Josh LaBossiere, Dylan Mullin, Steve Campo, Jamie Aceto and Craig Carpenter rounded out those leaving. PSU will miss all of the solid production that these players contributed to the team over their careers.
In the nightcap, the long-ball took center stage as four home runs were hit between both teams including two from PSU’s Brandon Hodge in the 12-6 PSU loss. Plymouth’s starter Adam Neshe’s day started out well as he struck out the first two Anchormen he faced, but things went bad after that as Neshe went 2 and 1/3 innings, allowing eight earned runs on eight and striking out only those two.
The second inning was the killer blow by RIC as they put up a five spot, including a leadoff homer from senior Michael Naylor and a wind-assisted two-run homer that carried over the right field wall by first-year outfielder Jared Rossi. Rossi had two hits in the game, as did Naylor. Junior Peter Olson and sophomore Jeff Costa also had two hits each with Olson knocking in three runs and Costa driving in two. For Plymouth, Junior Brandon Hodge went 3-for-4 with a pair of two-run home runs and senior Jamie Aceto had three hits. Hodge finished the season as the team’s leading hitter with a .379 batting average, while Carpenter finished at .365.
PSU did make things a little interesting in the ninth as a couple of runners reached an a pair of RBI’s were cashed in by senior Dylan Mullin and sophomore Josh Roberti, but RIC’s starter Eric Thibault was able to pick up his fourth win of the year and eliminate PSU from the possible post-season conversation and yield to the tiebreak loss to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.