HARWICH, Mass. – Senior righthander Matt Tulley (Lowell, Mass.) scattered three hits and struck out 13 over 8 1/3 innings to lead top-seeded 17th/19th ranked baseball to a 4-0 victory over fifth-seeded Babson in Game #7 of the 2017 NCAA Division III New England Baseball Regional Championships Friday evening at Whitehouse Field.
THE BASICS
#17/19 UMass Boston 4, Babson College 0
UMass Boston (35-10)
Babson College (26-14)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Beacons gave Tulley the only runs he would need in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly by senior Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.) and a suicide squeeze off the bat of junior Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.).
UMB tacked on a pair of insurance tallies in the fifth on an error and an RBI single by sophomore Charlie Huegi (Sandy Hook, Conn.). Tulley overcame a one hour and 17-minute rain delay in the bottom of the sixth and went into the ninth inning with his fastball still clocking in at well over 85 MPH.
The Beacons received a pair of doubles in the victory with Frosceno and Luke Nagle (Pembroke, Mass.) finding the gaps in the huge win.
Three different players rapped out singles in the setback for Babson, as sophomore Michael Genaro went the distance as the tough luck-loser for the Beavers in allowing three earned runs and fanning one while falling to 6-2 on the spring.
Tulley's toughest inning came in the top of the ninth inning, however a great catch by Nick Herzog (Farmingdale, N.Y.) in the eighth inning, eliminated any chance of a Beavers rally. In the final frame, Tulley would walk a batter before getting the first out of the inning. A hit batter would put runners on first and second.
This is when the Beacons turned to Kaufman, who just over 24 hours ago recorded the win after going the final two innings in the walk-off victory over Penn State Berks.
The Beacons line-up was once again consistent from top-to-bottom to help the Beacons stay in the winner's bracket.
BY THE NUMBERS
- The Beacons are now 6-0 all-time in program history through the first two days of the NCAA Regional Tournament
- Tulley's 13 K's marked a career-high for the senior righty
- UMass Boston has now won four straight and five of their last six over the Beavers
- Today's game marked the first-ever meeting between the two rivals in NCAA Tournament play
- The Beacons improved to 8-2 in NCAA Regional Tournament play, and 8-4 in NCAA Tournament play
- Chris Fowler (Barnstable, Mass.) saw his hit-streak come to an end at a program record 37-straight games
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will face the winner of Arcadia University/Suffolk University tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to championship Sunday.