BENNINGTON, Vt.- Senior pitcher Greg Gilmore and Freshman first baseman Cody LaBadia led the Southern Vermont College Mountaineers to a 12-1 victory over the MCLA Trailblazers in non-conference baseball action, at Bill Epstein Field Wednesday afternoon.
Gilmore earned his third win of the season on the hill Wednesday with a complete game, seven hit performance. The right hander retired the first 13 hitters he faced, before back to back singles in the fifth inning broke up his perfect game. Gilmore allowed one run in the sixth inning and retired the side in the seventh to finish the game with six strikeouts and no walks.
At the plate Cody LaBadia led SVC with a 4-4 day and six RBI's. LaBadia had two doubles and two singles, as he drove in at least one run in each of his at bats. Pat Warrington collected three hits for the victors to go along with two hit days from captain Dillon Desiderato, Chris Nicastro, and Keith Diotte.
The Trailblazers had three players pick up multi hit days. Chris Koch broke up Gilmore's no hitter in the fifth with the first of his two singles and Peter Dassatti followed with his first of two hits as well. Nick Mancini notched a multi-hit performance Wednesday as well. Joe Duncan picked up the other hit for MCLA.
DJ Clark received the loss for the Trailblazers as the starter was knocked out of the game after one and two thirds innings. Alon Willing came on in relief and pitched four innings while only allowing two earned runs on five hits.
For the fourth straight game, the Mountaineers got on the scoreboard in the first inning. Wednesday they made their mark with a six run, seven hit first inning. After a Diotte single got things started, Warrington and Corey Armstrong hit back to back RBI singles to give SVC a 2-0 advantage. Desiderato then singled to right, before LaBadia drove his first two runs in on the day with a double to left center. Nicastro made it 5-0 with a RBI single and Ian Valentine capped the inning off with a single that plated Nicastro.
In the second, Southern Vermont got right back to the scoreboard when Warrington and Desiderato each doubled. LaBadia drove in his third run of the day with a RBI single through the middle that scored Desiderato for an 8-0 SVC lead after two innings of play. After a scoreless third inning, the Mountaineers picked up an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth.
In the fifth, Koch singled for the first Trailblazer hit down the left field line, and Dassatti followed with a single through the right side. However, Gilmore got the next MCLA hitter to ground into a 6-4-3 double play that ended the inning. In the sixth, the Trailblazers got on the board when Mancini and Duncan singled. Then Chase Preite hit a sacrifice fly to right field for the lone MCLA run.
In the bottom of the sixth the Mountaineers answered with three more runs. Keith Diotte led off with a single and Armstrong earned a walk. With two outs, LaBadia finished his day with a two RBI double to the left center gap that plated Diotte and Armstrong. SVC got another run when LaBadia scored on an error later in the inning.
Southern Vermont improves to 5-22 with the win and breaks a nine game skid. The Trailblazers drop to 10-13 in 2012 and will take on Maine Presque Isle Friday afternoon at 2PM. The Mountaineers will host Lesley University in a crucial NECC series this weekend. The series will get underway with a double header Saturday at noon and will finish up with a single game Sunday at noon.