April 28, 2017

EMU makes history, Westfield clinches MASCAC title

More news about: Bridgewater (Va.) | Eastern Mennonite | Lebanon Valley | Massachusetts Maritime | Westfield State
John Lippincott had three hits and four RBIs on the day for Westfield State's sweep of Mass Maritime.
Westfield State athletics photo by Rick Sgalia

Junior John Lippincott’s two-run triple in the bottom of the fifth inning snapped a 2-2 tie as Westfield State completed a sweep of a MASCAC doubleheader from Mass Maritime with a 6-3 nightcap triumph at Hagan Field. Junior Nate Marshall scattered seven hits and struck out four over six innings of work in a 10-2 opening game triumph for the Owls.With the wins, Westfield State clinched the MASCAC regular season title.

The Berry Vikings collected 17 hits and 17 runs in the opening round of the SAA tournament en route to a run-rule victory over the Sewanee Tigers. With the win, the Vikings advance in the winners bracket to face Birmingham-Southern, a 7-5 winner over Centre. In first round at Rhodes, Rhodes defeated Oglethorpe 10-4 and Hendrix doubled up Millsaps 8-4.

Thomas Malik went five innings, and Nathan Sides and Matt Briner ripped four hits apiece to lead #24 Alvernia to a 9-4 win over Arcadia in MAC Commonwealth action at Arcadia. The top two teams in the league met in the final series of the season with the top seed in the postseason tournament on the line. The winner earns the #1 seed while the loser could fall as far as fourth place and a first round rematch. The two teams finish the series Saturday at Angelica Park with a doubleheader starting at noon.

The No. 6 ranked UW-Whitewater Warhawks maintained its two-game lead for first place in the WIAC standings with a split of a doubleheader against UW-Platteville at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. The Warhawks downed the Pioneers 10-0 in seven innings in the first game before falling 5-3 in the nightcap.

Senior Francis Rapp delivered a two-out, bases-clearing single in the eighth to propel the St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) to an 18-15 triumph over Lehman at American Legion Field. Rapp finished 2-for-6 with four RBI as both teams combined for 33 runs—matching an SJC record—and 35 hits in the three-and-a-half hour affair. The Lightning led 10-1 after three and the Bears took the lead in the fifth, but fell behind in the top of the eighth and scored six runs in the bottom half with two outs for the difference.

No. 19 Washington & Jefferson ran its streak of not allowing a run to 27 innings over four games by sweeping a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader at Saint Vincent by scores of 3-0 and 9-0. Senior NIck Vento broke the W&J career home run record in the first inning of game one with the 23rd blast of his career. He was previously tied with Frank Quirin (2008-10) atop the list with 22. It was the sixth long ball of the season for the Presidents' right fielder.

Senior centerfielder Marc Cohen produced the walk-off single for Drew, pushing the Rangers to their second victory over a nationally ranked opponent this season, 3-2, against No. 12 Salisbury in come-from-behind fashion at Doc Young Field. Drew has now defeated No. 24 Ramapo and No. 12 Salisbury for two of its wins as part of a 22-11 overall record, and claim their sixth straight win. The Seagulls drop to 30-9 and see their seven-game win streak stopped in Madison.

Earlham stole 14 bases in a doubleheader sweep of Transylvania, winning game one 8-2 and game two 7-4 at Randal R. Sadler Stadium. Earlham had 11 hits as a team in game one including two hits from seniors Nate Lynch, Matt Barger, and Brennan Laird along with sophomore Addison Robertson. The Quakers tallied 11 stolen bases in the contest including three doubles steals. In game two, Earlham again outhit Transylvania 13-9 with three more stolen bases.

Damon Frazier has the most wins for an EMU pitcher since the 2013 season.
Eastern Mennonite photo by Scott Eyre

EMU scored first and never let go of the edge, beating Bridgewater 7-4 to earn their first-ever season sweep of their rivals. Damon Frazier pitched 7.2 solid innings while helping his team to a 3-0 lead with a run and RBI. Eastern Mennonite won an April 5 meeting in Harrisonburg, 10-5, giving them a sweep of the Eagles for the first time in the 49-year history of the program. It was also their first win in Bridgewater since 2006. The Royals have now won four of the last seven games between the two teams.

All the pressure is on the top seed in the first round of the conference tournament. Despite being outhit on Friday, April 28, the Centenary (La.) Gents escaped with the victory. The Maroon and White trailed 1-0 early and the Pirates put the tying run on base in the ninth, but sophomore Cole Lavergne got the strikeout for his conference-leading eighth save of the season as Centenary held on for a 6-4 win against Southwestern in the first round of the SCAC Tournament at AirHogs Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas. Centenary will play Trinity (Texas) on Saturday. Trinity defeated Texas Lutheran 11-2.

Redlands celebrated its seniors in fine fashion with a 7-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer at the Yard. After honoring the careers of Christopher Scalisi, Christian Conci, John White, Mitch Samson, John Keane, Kyle Wallau, and Michael Collins, the Bulldogs got to work in securing an important victory in a tight SCIAC race.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor rallied in the late innings of both games as the Cru swept a doubleheader from Louisiana College in Pineville. UMHB rallied late to take a 5-2 victory in game one and rode two big innings to take a 9-6 victory.

Phillip Berry crushed a two-out, three-run home run over the center field wall to give Lebanon Valley its first lead of the day en route to the 8-5 come-from-behind victory over Albright in MAC Commonwealth action. The win sealed a playoff spot for the Dutchmen, who now sit at 20-14, 11-8 MAC Commonwealth, while the Lions dropped to 10-25, 4-15 MAC Commonwealth. Colin Albright notched the 100th hit of his career in this game, a single to the shortstop in the top of the sixth.

Plattsburgh State broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning en route to a 6-4 win against the Fredonia Blue Devils in SUNYAC play at Chip Cummings Field. Plattsburgh State freshmen Stephen Bryant, Alex Follmer and Kentaro Mori all went 2-for-4, with Bryant and Mori also doubling and Follmer chipping in an RBI.

Rowan had an 8-1 victory over New Jersey City University in the final home game of the regular season. Right-hander Andrew Cohen earned his third straight win, hurling eight innings of one-run ball. He (4-4) allowed five hits while striking out seven. Righty Joe Stone took the loss (0-1).

 
MIT's David Hesslink improved to 5-3 on the season with the 7-4 win over Clark.
MIT athletics photo

In the first round of the 2017 NEWMAC Tournament No. 5 seeded MIT used a 16-hit attack and a seven-inning performance from starting pitcher David Hesslink to come away with a 7-4 victory over No. 4 seeded Clark. Clark's tournament hopes end in their record winning season. MIT will play WPI and Wheaton (Mass) will play Babson in a best of three series with the NEWMAC championship to be determined next weekend.

Billy Nelson hit a walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning to cap a six-run rally as Keystone won the first game of this weekend’s key CSAC series with Neumann, 7-6 at Christy Mathewson Field. The Giants, who trailed 6-1 in the fourth inning of Friday’s contest, improve to 24-9 overall and 14-2 in CSAC play by winning for the 11th time in their last 12 games.

King's built a 6-1 lead through six innings en route to an important 6-3 victory over host FDU-Florham in Madison, NJ. With the win King's improved to 16-15 overall and 9-7 in the MAC Freedom Conference while FDU slipped to 12-17 and 6-10.  The win enabled the Monarchs to remaining in third-place heading into the team's doubleheader matchup against FDU Saturday at King's. Manhattanville is 8-8 and Eastern is 7-9 with five league games remaining.

Hope swept a doubleheader against Albion, winning the first game 14-4 and coming back to win the second game 6-5 in dramatic, walk-off fashion. The Flying Dutchmen had previously split the first doubleheader with the Britons. The wins move the team's record to 22-14 overall, with a 15-9 mark in MIAA play. Hope finds itself alone in third place in the conference heading into the final week of the regular season. The team hopes to maintain a top-four position in order to qualify for the MIAA tournament. In game two, Hope proved its resilience, scoring vital runs in both the 9th and 10th innings before delivering the knock-out blow in the bottom of the 11th. Nick Holt showed off his versatility, knocking in Nick Lepore with a single up the middle for the game-winning run in the final inning.

Senior co-captain LHP Chris Speer won his second start in six days, tossing six innings and allowing six hits with two strikeouts to lead the Trinity Bantams to a 9-0 victory over the visiting Brandeis Judges at Murren Family Field at DiBenedetto Stadium. Trinity, which has not allowed a run in its last 27 innings including a 1-0 complete-game win by Speer on Sunday at Bates, improves to 17-13 with its fourth win in a row. Brandeis drops to 5-19.

In the second to last home series of the MIAA regular season, junior outfielder Andre Gard stole the show in Kalamazoo 's first game of the doubleheader against Alma hitting two home runs as the Hornets pulled out a 6-5 win in game one. Kalamazoo won the second game 6-2 after scoring in the first, third and sixth innings. The Hornets led 3-2 after four before putting the game away with three runs in the sixth. Only two Alma baserunners reached second over the final five innings.

Frank Urso went 3-for-4 with one run and two RBIs and senior southpaw Mike Occhi hurled six strong innings in relief to lead the Kean Cougars over Rutgers-Camden, 7-2, in NJAC action. Rutgers-Camden, which entered the day with a mathematical chance to make the six-team NJAC playoffs next week, was eliminated from the playoff race and falls to 13-21 overall and 4-12 in conference play. Kean, still battling for a post-season conference berth, improves to 21-15 overall and 8-8 in the NJAC.