CASTLETON, Vt. – Devin Hayes pitched seven innings of scoreless baseball to lead the Spartans to a 4-1 victory over the fourth-seeded Maine-Farmington Beavers in the opening game of the North Atlantic Conference Tournament this morning at Spartan Field.
The 6-foot-2 right-hander turned in an impressive performance with ten strikeouts and just five hits allowed to pick up his fourth win of the season. Joe Sullivan, meanwhile, suffered his fourth loss of the year after allowing four runs scattered over 6.2 innings for Maine-Farmington.
The Spartans outhit the opposition 11-8 and left just six runners on base in the contest. Nick Swimand Soren Pelz-Walsh led the attack with two hits apiece, while Dan Errico finished 1-for-4 at the plate with his team-leading sixth home run of the season.
The Beavers had a chance in the top of the second after Tom Grady (Whitefield, Maine) led off the inning with a single through the left side. The junior moved into scoring position with a stolen base and then to third on a fly out to right field. Hayes, however, fanned back-to-back batters to maintain the scoreless affair.
Jordan Croteau (South Paris, Maine) led off the third with a liner up the middle for UMF. The catcher advanced into scoring position after a walk put runners on first and second, but for the second straight inning Farmington failed to take advantage and left the runners stranded on base.
Following a scoreless third, the Spartan bats finally came alive, as they manufactured three hits and two runs in the fourth to take a two-run lead. After Taylor Vile was walked to start the frame, Swim stepped up and laced a double to deep left center that plated the first run of the game. The sophomore was later caught stealing third, which came back to hurt the Spartans as Errico mashed a solo shot over the left field fence to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Spartans doubled their lead with a pair of runs to go in front by four. Jim Buckley began the frame with a triple off the wall in deep center, and in the next at-bat a wild pitch from Sullivan allowed him to score. Tyler Hoare then doubled to right and Pelz-Walsh followed with a single before Vile ripped a two-run hit through the left side of the infield to make it 4-0.
Farmington didn't go away quietly, however, as they loaded the bases in the top of the ninth to put pressure on the top seed. Tom Grady ripped his third hit of the afternoon with a double just inside the chalk line down the third base line to start the frame. Grayson Beressi (Falmouth, Maine) followed with a single up the middle, and Jimmy Neal then (Farmington, Maine) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. With the bases loaded and no outs, Ben Keene (Livermore, Maine) hit a dribbler in the hole at short for a single, which allowed Grady to score easily from third and close the gap to three.
The Spartans came through with a much-needed double play in the next at-bat, as closer TJ Fearon(Colchester, Conn.) fielded the groundball and went home for the force before the batter running to first was called for intereference to complete the double play. Fearon then got Trevor Hisler got to hit into a fielder's choice for the final out of the game, securing the 4-1 Castleton victory.
With this win, the Spartans improve to 29-10 on the season and have now won 12 of their last 13 games. They will face the winner of game two (No. 3 Thomas vs. No. 2 Husson) tomorrow at 9 am on Spartan Field. The Beavers, meanwhile, drop to 17-19 on the season and will be back in action this afternoon at 3 pm, as they square off with the loser of game two.