HARWICH, Mass. -- Sophomore Nick Herzog's (Riverhead, N.Y.) walk-off RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted top-seeded UMass Boston to a 9-8 victory over eighth-seeded Penn State-Berks in opening round play of the 2017 NCAA Division III New England Baseball Regional Championships Thursday afternoon at Whitehouse Field.
THE BASICS
#17/19 UMass Boston 9, Penn State Berks 8 (10 innings)
UMass Boston (34-10)
Penn State Berks (20-20)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After squandering a pair of runners in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Beacons 10th inning started off with Penn State Berks picking-up a lead-off strikeout. From there a four pitch walk to Dan Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.) put the game-winning run on first base. Kyle Boudrias (Medford, Mass.) then moved Mantoni into scoring position on a single to left field. After Eddie Riley (Quincy, Mass.) entered the game as a pinch runner for Mantoni, the Nittany Lions got their second out on a groundout to first base, but that allowed Riley to move over to third.
With Herzog stepping up to the plate and Riley on third the Beacons were hoping for that walk-off magic. The New York native fell into an early 0-2 hole, before picking-up the only ball of his at-bat. On the fourth pitch, Herzog crushed the ball down the left field line to plate Riley.
To start off their day UMass Boston grabbed a 1-0 first inning lead on an error, but Penn State-Berks responded with a three-run fourth inning rally on sophomore Brandon Griesemer's two-run single and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. The Nittany Lions tacked on two more tallies in the top of the fifth on a bases-loaded walk to senior John McGarvey and Griesemer's sacrifice fly.
The Beacons responded with a seven-run outburst in the bottom of the frame that began with a three-run double off the bat of sophomore Kyle Boudrias (Medford, Mass.) that cut the score to 5-4. Herzog's run-scoring single evened matters for UMass Boston. The Beacons took the lead on a passed ball and added two more runs in the inning on senior Anthony Searles' (Shelton, Conn.) sacrifice fly and an RBI single by junior Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.).
UMB would remain in control of the lead until the top of the ninth inning when Penn State-Berks rallied to close back to within one on an error and Griesemer's fourth RBI on a single up the middle. The Nittany Lions evened matters on junior Cory Fox's (Boyertown, Pa.) run-scoring single with two outs in the ninth to force the extra frame.
Boudrias, Herzog, Mantoni and juniors Josh Lopez (New Haven, Conn.) and Chris Fowler (Barnstable, Mass.) each had two hits as part of 14-hit attack for UMass Boston, as junior Bryan Kaufman (Farmingdale, N.Y.) improved to 3-0 on the season in fanning a pair over 1 1/3 innings of work.
Griesemer, senior Zach Reis and freshman Seth Endy each had two hits to lead a 13-hit attack for Penn State-Berks, as junior Tyler Comport also rapped out a pair of hits and suffered the setback on the mound for the Nittany Lions to fall to 4-2 on the spring.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Fowler extended his hit-streak to 37 consecutive games with a single in the bottom of the first inning
- UMass Boston improved to 2-0 all-time against Penn State Berks
- The Beacons face the Nittany Lions in the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament in Moosic, PA where they earned a 10-5 win on day two to remain in the winner's bracket
- With the win UMass Boston is now 3-0 on the first day of the NCAA Regional Tournament
- The Beacons are now 7-2 all-time in the NCAA Regional Tournament and 7-4 in NCAA Tournament play
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will face the fifth-seeded Beavers of Babson College tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. in a winner's bracket game.
Information for this release provided by Mass. Maritime Academy Sports Information Department