MILTON, Mass. - The Nichols College baseball team fell to Curry College 3-2 in the opening game of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament Thursday afternoon at Jack Valley Diamond.
 
Though his streak of three-hit games comes to a close, junior Cam Cook (Phoenixville, Pa.) finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Sophomore Joe Assenza (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) scored the only other run for the Bison in the game as they fall to within a game of elimination from the CCC Tournament and await the loser of No. 4 Curry and No. 1 Salve Regina on Saturday.
 
The Colonels were led by senior Vincent LoPriore (Boston, Mass.) who homered to center in the fourth inning to give Curry a 2-0 lead. Junior Justin Cage (Glendora, Calif.) and senior Alex McLean (Eliot, Maine) added the other two runs for the Colonels – who were outhit in the game 7-4 despite coming out on top.
 
Junior StigErik McElhinney (Dracut, Mass.) tossed 5.1 innings for the Bison while allowing three runs on three hits and four walks and five strikeouts in the loss. Classmate Vincent Amato (Brooklyn, N.Y.) came in in relief and shut the Colonels down over the final 2.2 innings – allowing no runs on just one hit.
 
Senior Brian Burke (Swampscott, Mass.) started the game for Curry and allowed just two runs on five hits through five innings of work in a no decision. Junior Kevin Jones (Pembroke, Mass.) earned the win after not allowing a Bison to reach base over the next two frames and fanning three. The Colonels turned to CCC First Team selection junior David Griffin (Hanover, Mass.) to close out the game and he picked up his third save of the season.
 
Curry took the early lead when McElhinney fired a wild pitch in the first inning and allowed McLean to come home. The Colonels added another run in the fourth off the homerun from LoPriore.
 
The Bison scratched across a pair of runs in the fifth inning but that was it for their offense.
 
The Colonels scored the go-ahead run in the following inning following a bases loaded walk to sophomore Matt Fogarty (Millis, Mass.) – bringing home Cage.
 
All-Time Series
This was the first loss for the Bison against the Colonels in the last four meetings. Nichols still leads the all-time series at, 34-23.
 
Next Games
No. 5 Nichols (21-18) – Saturday, May 6 vs loser of Curry of Salve Regina, 3:00 p.m.
No. 4 Curry (15-18) –Saturday, May 6 at No. 1 Salve Regina, 12:00 p.m.