GORHAM, Maine—Junior Danny Brown's (Hudson, N.H.) walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning, led #2 UMass Boston baseball past rival #5 UMass Dartmouth 2-1 on Day 1 of the 2019 Little East Conference Baseball Tournament.
THE BASICS
#2 UMass Boston 2, #5 UMass Dartmouth 1 (11 Innings)
(UMass Boston 27-11)
(UMass Dartmouth 17-20)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After each team scratched across a run in the fifth inning, three Beacons pitchers combined to keep the Corsairs off the scoreboard, setting up Brown to be the hero.
Senior closer Bobby Tramondozzi (Peabody, Mass.) earned the win after throwing the final 3.1 innings and allowing just two hits, one walk and striking out five.
Junior Ben Gottesman (Acton, Mass.) went pitch-for-pitch with UMass Dartmouth All-American Matt Cronin. Gottesman scattered five hits, three walks and one earned run over 5.2 innings. He also struck out four in his first collegiate postseason start. Sophomore starting pitcher Tylor Arruda (New Bedford, Mass.) came out of the pen and allowed just two walks over two hitless innings.
Offensively, Kyle Boudrais (Medford, Mass.) led the Beacons with two hits and the game-winning run. Fellow senior Charlie Huegi (Sandy Hook, Conn.) added two hits in three at-bats, including a double.
Cronin went the first seven innings for the Corsairs and was charged with three hits and one earned run. The senior starter struck out seven and walked three batters. UMass Dartmouth's closer Nate Tellier pitched the final 3.2 frames and took the loss after allowing four hits and one earned run.
UMass Dartmouth came out aggressively against the Beacons, as they put runners on in each of the first eight innings. Gottesman picked off a runner in the first inning and struck out a batter with a runner at third and one out, to keep the scoreless through 1.5 innings.
The Beacons had one of their best chances to score in the bottom of the second, but Eddie Riley's (Quincy, Mass.) deep blast was knocked down by the wind and caught by the Corsairs left fielder.
UMass Dartmouth took a short-lived lead in the top of the fifth. Nate Stewart worked a leadoff walk and was pinch-run for by Nick Carr. Carr took second on a sac bunt, tagged up on a fly out and scampered home on JR DiSarcina's two-out, RBI single.
The Beacons immediately responded in the bottom of the inning. Ryan McCormick (Cumberland, Mass.) worked a leadoff walk and took second on a dropped pickoff throw. After Nico Kydes (Stamford, Conn.) was hit by a pitch, the Corsairs couldn't field Huegi's sacrifice bunt which loaded the bases. Nick Herzog (Riverhead, N.Y.) tied the game with a sacrifice fly, but Cronin induced a short fly out and a strikeout to keep the game tied at 1-1.
UMass Dartmouth put two on with two outs in the sixth to chase Gottesman, but Arruda induced a foul pop to the catcher to get out of the jam.
Arruda ran into a similar jam in the eighth, but Tramondozzi came on for him and recorded a fly out to center to strand two more runners.
Both teams had chances to take the lead in the 10th inning.
With a runner on first and one out, Jack Harrington ripped a fly ball towards the right field line, but Herzog ranged to his left to make the catch and then fired to first for an inning-ending double play.
Huegi doubled with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Tellier was able to retire Herzog on a groundout.
UMass Dartmouth had an even better chance to score in the 11th. Pat Vartanian led off the inning with a double but was thrown out at third base by Tramondozzi, after Tucker Heatherman bunted the ball right back to the mound. Heatherman attempted to steal second and made it all the way to third base, after an errant throw. Tramdonozzi struck out Mitch Baker and then after a walk, was able to blow a fastball by DiSarcina after a lengthy battle.
The Beacons put the game away in the bottom of the inning. Boudrias singled with one out and went all the way to third base on a Riley popup to short center, that the Corsairs second baseman lost in the sun. Brown followed by ripping a line drive over the head of the third baseman to start a huge celebration in right field.
BY THE NUMBERS
- The last time the LEC Tournament was hosted by the University of Southern Maine (2017), the Beacons walked-off in their first game of the tournament. In that contest, the second-seeded Beacons defeated Rhode Island College 4-3 in 12 innings on a Chris Fowler walk-off single.
- Boudrias is now just two hits shy of former teammate Dan Mantoni ('17) for second-place in program history in career hits (246).
- With the win, UMass Boston has now won five of six postseason meetings against the Corsairs over the past four years.
- Herzog moved into sole possession of second-place in program history for career games played on Wednesday (176). He is two games shy of Sal Frosceno's ('18) program record of 178 appearances.
- UMass Boston leads the season-series 2-1 against the Corsairs and now trail the all-time series 31-48.
- Tramondozzi moved into sixth-place in program history for career strikeouts (143). He is one strikeout shy of Mike Andriano ('10) for fifth-place.
- The Beacons have now won eight-straight LEC Tournament games, including four wins over the Corsairs.
- Herzog also moved into a tie for third-place in program history for career RBI (131). He is now tied with Mantoni and sits one RBI shy of Mark McCormack ('12) for second-place all-time.
WHO'S NEXT
#2 UMass Boston will play in the third game of the LEC Tournament on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Beacons will take on the winner of #3 Rhode Island College and #4 Eastern Connecticut State University.