BROCKTON, Mass. – In his first collegiate start, freshman Steve Witkowski (Pittsfield, Mass.) looked like a seasoned veteran as he pitched seven scoreless innings, and allowed only two hits to earn his first win as a Beacon as UMass Boston defeated Lesley University by the final of 9-4 Wednesday afternoon at Campanelli Stadium in a non-conference contest.

Witkowski's win improved the Beacons overall record to 14-12, while for the Lynx they dropped to 8-19 on the year in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

On the hill, the Pittsfield native struck out two and allowed just one walk in one of the best outings by the Beacons young pitching staff.  While Witkowski was getting it done on the mound, the Beacons bats wasted little time giving their young pitcher some breathing room on the scoreboard.

A Todd Ezold (Westfield, Mass.) two-run bomb in the first gave the Beacons an early lead, while in the second the Beacons tacked on three more to jump out to a 5-0 lead.  Josh Lopez (New Haven, Conn.) would drive in the first run of the second inning on an RBI single.  Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.) would then make it a four-run affair after scoring on a wild pitch.  Lopez would eventually come around to score on a throwing error by the third baseman.

After a scoreless third inning, an RBI single by Delvis Baez (Lawrence, Mass.) in the bottom half of the fourth made it 6-0 Beacons.  Witkowski would allow his first of only two hits, both singles, in the top half of the third, but the Beacons defense would not allow the runner to reach second.

The sixth inning would see two more runs put-up on the board by the Beacons to make it 8-0 UMass Boston.  Frosceno would plate Luke Nagle (Pembroke, Mass.) on an RBI groundout, while another wild pitch by Lesley would allow Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.) to earn his first run of the afternoon.

UMB's final run came in the seventh on an RBI single by Nagle, which scored Ezold to cap-off another strong offensive day for the Beacons.

Witkowski's day would come to an end after the seventh, allowing the bullpen to take over and close out the contest.  Despite being down 9-0, Lesley did not go down quietly as they battled back in the eighth scoring three in the inning.  They then put-up one more in the ninth to make the game much closer than the Beacons would have liked.

Getting the loss for Lesley was Bryan Hildebrand, his second of the year.  The righty went six complete innings and allowed eight runs, six earned, on nine hits.  Jeff Heinz closed out the loss allowing the final Beacons run, on two hits. 

Daniel Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.), Searles, and Frosceno each recorded doubles in the win, while Ezold recorded the only homer of the day, his second of the year.  He would end the day 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored. 

On the day the Beacons combined for 11 hits, while the Lynx finished seven.  Robert Parson led Lesley's offense as he went 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBI, and one run scored. 

The Beacons return to action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to MIT for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference game.