KEENE, N.H. - Needing a sweep to lock down a spot in the Little East Conference (LEC) Tournament, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth baseball team did just that, taking two over Keene State, 9-3 and 12-7, Friday at the Owl Athletic Complex. With the wins, head coach Bob Prince wins his 200th game.
With the wins, the Corsairs (15-21-1, 6-10 LEC) are the No. 5 seed in the tournament, finishing a spot higher than they were projected in the LEC preseason poll, and will face No. 2 Rhode Island College in the first round of the tournament. The Owls (6-27, 2-13 LEC) see their season come to an end.
Junior Andrew Bryant was the most dangerous man at the plate, finishing the day 7-for-11 with a home run, three RBI, and seven runs scored.
GAME ONE
Bryant went 5-for-5 with a solo home run, two RBI, and three runs scored as UMass Dartmouth defeated Keene State for a 9-3 game one win. Classmate DJ Perron was 3-for-5 at the dish with a run scored, and senior Zak Souza finished 2-for-5 with a team-leading three RBI and two runs scored.
Junior Ryan Qualey started on the mound and went five innings, allowing two earned on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks issued. Graduate student Tylor Arruda threw the final four innings and picked up the win, limiting Keene State to one earned run on just two hits with a pair of strikeouts.
With two outs in the top of the first, Bryant cranked his 10th home run of the year to tie the LEC lead and give UMass Dartmouth a 1-0 lead. Keene State quickly evened the score in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single.
A hit batter followed by a base hit allowed the Owls to take a 2-1 advantage in the second. Keene State held onto that lead until the sixth, when Bryant singled home freshman Chase Pariseau who led off with a base knock, to make it a 2-2 ballgame.
Two runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth put it out of reach. Souza sent his second homer in as many games over the center-field fence to start the seventh, and a fielding error brought home junior Adam Horowitz to extend the lead to 4-2. Souza kept it rolling with a two-RBI single in the eighth, while senior Kyle Denis and sophomore Matthew Klett went for back-to-back doubles to make it an 8-2 game.
Each team plated a run in the ninth. Sophomore Jared Neikam singled home Bryant in the top half, and an RBI fielder's choice in the home half brought the game to its final.
GAME TWO
UMass Dartmouth brought home 12 runs on 13 hits to beat Keene State in game two, 12-7, and complete the sweep.
Souza finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Perron was 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, and Bryant went 2-for-6 with an RBI and four runs scored. Freshman Scott Cromack also picked up two hits, had an RBI, and scored a run.
With two outs in the first, Bryant reached on an error, and Perron sent his sixth home run of the year over the left-field fence to give the Corsairs a 2-0 lead.
Five more two-out runs came across for UMass Dartmouth in the second. After Cromack walked and Pariseau singled to put runners on the corners, the Keene State catcher sailed the ball to the outfield on Pariseau's stolen base and both runners scored. Freshman Devyn Vezina and senior Chase Stafford both reached, Bryant brought home Vezina with a base hit, and Perron doubled in Stafford to make it a 7-0 game.
Keene State got all seven runs back in the bottom half of the second with an RBI fielder's choice, a walk and a hit batter with the bases loaded, and a grand slam to make it a brand new game.
That was the end of the scoring for Keene State as freshman Adam Maher went 5.1 scoreless inning with eight strikeouts to earn the win. Graduate student Logan Maitland finished the final two innings with four K's.
The Corsairs methodically put the game away over the final seven innings. A bases loaded passed ball brought home Souza in the third, a Cromack RBI single made it a 9-7 advantage in the fifth, and Souza scored another with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 10-7 after six.
Souza picked up another RBI with a base hit in the eighth, and Stafford did the same in the ninth to complete the sweep.
UP NEXT
UMass Dartmouth has punched its ticket to the LEC Tournament and will face Rhode Island College on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at Eastern Connecticut.