Springfield, Mass. - April 7, 2018 - The Springfield College baseball team swept Coast Guard in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday at Archie Allen Field. The Pride took the opener, 12-5, before producing a --- win in the second.
With the wins, Springfield now stands at 16-5-2, 5-2 in NEWMAC play while the Bears fall to 6-10, 0-7 in NEWMAC play.
Springfield will head to New London on Sunday to finish up the season series against Coast Guard.
Game 1 - Springfield 12, Coast Guard 5
Four different players recorded at least a pair of RBI to lead the Pride to an 11-3 victory over the Bears in its first game of the day. Mark Joao (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 with a game high five runs driven in, while Chad Shade (Pittsfield, Mass.) led all players with three hits and four runs scored. Brian Johnson (East Haddam, Conn.) tossed five strong innings of three hit ball and struck out five en route to earning the win.
The Pride were the first to break into the runs column when Jake Gleason (South Dennis, Mass.) stepped up to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the third and delivered a single down the left field line to score a pair and put the Pride up 2-0.
The visitors answered with a run in the fifth as they took advantage of a leadoff walk and later benefit from a RBI single through the right side by Jeremy Lhotka (Orange Park, Fla.) to pull within one of Springfield.
However, Springfield promptly responded in the bottom half of the frame with four runs to separate itself from the visiting Bears. Shade's leadoff walk and stolen base started the rally while back to back singles from Jack Cooney (Pittsfield, Mass.) and Joao drove him in. Gleason drew a walk followed by a walk from Noah Bleakley (Holland, Mass.) drew an RBI walk to score Cooney. The Pride's final two runs of the inning came on a sharp single through the right side by Cam Rivest (Agawam, Mass.) that scored Joao and Gleson to give the Pride a 6-1 advantage.
Springfield blew open the game with a four-run sixth inning. With the bases juiced and no one out, a walk from Cooney and a hard ground ball from Joao pushed three runs across followed by a Bleakley single up the middle to score Joao and give the Pride a 10-3 lead before a two-run single from Joao in the seventh gave Springfield its 12th and final run.
The Bears tacked on their final run in the ninth on a two-out, bases loaded walk before John Daley (Huntington, Mass. ) struck out the games final batter to finalize a 12-5 victory for the Pride.
Game 2 - Springfield -, Coast Guard -