BOSTON, Mass. – In their final regular season doubleheader of the 2017 season, baseball cruised to a pair of wins to extend their win-streak to 12-straight games as they swept Western Connecticut State University by the finals of 4-0 and 12-4 Thursday afternoon at Monan Park.

THE BASICS

Game 1: UMass Boston 4, Western Connecticut State University 0
Game 2: UMass Boston 12, Western Connecticut State University 4

#28 UMass Boston (29-9, 11-3 Little East Conference)
Western Connecticut State (15-20, 3-11 Little East Conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Senior righty's Matt Tulley (Lowell, Mass.) and Dan Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.) had another strong conference doubleheader as both players recorded victories.  Tulley went six complete and allowed just two hits, while striking out four.  For Mantoni he last 5.1 and allowed four runs on three hits, and had two strikeouts. 

At the plate, Chris Fowler (Barnstable, Mass.) extended his hit-streak to 31 consecutive games after recording one hit in each contest in the sweep.

GAME 1

Despite a very strong outing by Western's George Bielizna, the Beacons got three of their four runs through the first three innings.  Bielizna allowed just the four runs on six hits, and had one strikeout in a game last a total of 95 minutes from start to finish.  Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.) and Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.) each knocked in a run in the second on back-to-back RBI singles.  In the third inning, Kyle Boudrias (Medford, Mass.) hit a deep sac-fly to left field, which allowed Lopez to score. 

In the sixth, the Beacons scored their final run of the afternoon a sacrifice bunt by Nick Herzog (Riverhead, N.Y.).  Bryan Kaufman (Farmingdale, N.Y.) closed out the final three innings, and did not allow a hit to collect his second save of the year.

GAME 2

In the nightcap, Josh Lopez had a huge day as he went 3-for-4, with two RBI and three runs scored.  Boudrias was just as solid as he finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.  In total, four different players recorded triples against the Colonials pitching staff, which allowed 17 hits, while only striking out six. 

The Beacons scored at-least one run in six of the eight innings, but it was their five-run sixth inning that secured the conference sweep.  In the first inning, UMB tacked on two early runs, while in the second and third frames Lopez knocked-in the third run of the afternoon, while in the third Nagle made it a four-run ball game on a sac-fly to center field.

After a scoreless fourth, UMB made it 5-0 as Fowler plated Boudrias, who reached on a triple.  Western Connecticut's only offense came in the top of the sixth inning as they scored four runs.  However, those runs were countered by a five-run bottom of the sixth.  The Beacons final two runs of the day came in the seventh to close out the victory.

BY THE NUMBERS

• With the sweep, UMB secured the two-seed in next week's Little East Conference Tournament which will be hosted by the University of Southern Maine
• The Beacons honored their four senior members Tulley, Nagle, Mantoni, and Searles
• UMB set a program record for conference wins in a season for the third straight year as they finished 11-3 record
• UMB climbed to number-two in the regional rankings prior to the start of the doubleheader, and sit behind USM heading into the conference tournament
• Mantoni needs to pitch just 2/3 of an inning to become the first player in program history to ever record 200 career hits and 200 innings pitched
• In their four seasons at UMass Boston this year's seniors have recorded 99 wins
• Fowler is now just three games away from tying the program record for most consecutive hits with 34 set by Steve Coffey from 1988-89

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will face Rhode Island College on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at Ed Flaherty Stadium on the first day of the Little East Conference Tournament.