WALTHAM, Mass. - Freshman Kyle Szatrowski (Agawam, Mass.) took the mound Wednesday night against the Wentworth Institute of Technology looking to earn his first collegiate victory and gain some confidence. He achieved a lot more than that against the Leopards (15-19) as Szatrowski threw the first no-hitter in program history as UMass Boston (17-13-1) breezed to a 5-0 victory at Yetten Field Wednesday evening.
Szatrowski was lockdown the entire evening, striking out seven Leopard batters and rarely allowing Wentworth to hit the ball hard. After giving up a walk and hitting two batters in the first three innings, Szatrowski was nearly flawless over the final seven innings allowing just three Leopards to reach base on walks.
The Beacons defense helped out with a couple of key plays to keep the no-hitter stay alive. Second baseman Bryan Failla (Torrington, Conn.) made a diving stab to his right on one occasion and helped convert a double play to get Szatrowski out of trouble in the sixth inning. Shortstop Jamill Moquette (Boston, Mass.) tracked down a fly ball in shallow left to earn the first out of the ninth on a ball that initially looked like it could drop.
After the small scare, Szatrowski retired Jon Spitz on a groundout to second base to bring Conner Flisnik to the plate with one out to go. Szatrowski started Flisnik with two balls and after a foul ball, he forced an easy ground ball to Moquette who threw across to Matt Consiglio (Southbury, Conn.) on the 126th pitch of the night.
The Beacons swarmed the mound and jumped on top of Szatrowski who was making just his third career start. Coming into the game, Szatrowski had an 0-2 record in six appearances and hadn't made it out of the sixth inning all season. That all changed quickly.
Szatrowski started the game with a one, two, three inning and cruised through most of the night. He hit a batter with one out in the second but freshman catcher Jack DeBiase (Prospect, Conn.) helped his pitcher by throwing out the runner on an attempted steal. Justin Bolla followed with a walk but Szatrowski ended the threat with a strikeout to close out the inning.
The second would be the last inning that Wentworth would have multiple base runners, as Szatrowski became more effective as the game went on. He retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced and didn't allow a runner to reach second base all night.
Offensively, Moquette and Consiglio provided more than enough offense for their pitcher. Moquette extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a 2-for-2 day and added two runs, two RBI and three walks. Consiglio only managed one hit but it was an RBI double and he tacked on another RBI for good measure.
UMass Boston will be back in action Thursday when they travel to Cambridge to take on MIT at 4 p.m