BOSTON, Mass. – The fifth/sixth ranked Beacons used timely hitting and two stellar pitching performances to earn their fourth Little East Conference sweep as they defeated Keene State College by the finals of 3-1 and 3-1 Saturday afternoon at Monan Park.

THE BASICS

GM1 #5/6 UMass Boston 3, Keene State College 1
GM2 #5/6 UMass Boston 3, Keene State College 1

UMass Boston (26-5, 9-0 Little East Conference)
Keene State College (13-13, 3-5 Little East Conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

With the wins UMass Boston set a new program record for consecutive wins with 15 and are now 9-0 in Little East regular season play for the first time in program history.  The Beacons have also won 16 straight Little East regular season games, also a program record.

GAME ONE

The Beacons' bats were ready to go right from the start, as they put two-runs on the board in the home half of the first. Eddie Riley (Quincy, Mass.) and Kyle Boudrias (Medford, Mass.) got things started by reaching base safely; opening the door for Chris Fowler (Barnstable, Mass.) to drive in Riley with a base hit up the middle. Ryan McCormick (Cumberland, R.I.) did the same with a single that brought home Boudrias.

Morin surrendered a run in the second inning which made the score 2-1, putting the pressure back on the Beacons' offense to score some insurance runs.

The bats for both sides went cold for a while, as neither team plated a run until in the sixth inning.  Wanderson Pinales (Bani, D.R.) found himself on second with a wall-ball double to left field. Charlie Huegi (Sandy Hook, Conn.) next gave the Beacons the insurance run they were in need of with a single up the middle.

Morin's day ended after the seventh inning, leaving him with an excellent final line of seven innings pitched, one earned run and one hit, three walks and seven strikeouts. Joe Maguire (Peabody, Mass.) entered the game in the top of the eighth, but only faced a few batters before handing the ball to Bobby Tramondozzi (Peabody, Mass) for the attempt at a five-out save.

Tramondozzi did just that, as he only gave up one hit in 1.2 innings as the Beacons defeated the Owls 3-1.

GAME TWO

Junior righty Fernando Burgos (Hyde Park, Mass.) stepped on the hill in the nightcap to put his undefeated record on the line.

Just like the opener the starting pitchers stole the show.   The Owls struck first with a run in the fourth inning as they singled up the middle. The Beacons did not wait long to tie things up, as Boudrias doubled to lead off the bottom half of the same inning. McCormick drove in Boudrias on an RBI single to left field.

In the fifth inning Pinales led off with a triple to dead center field. Three batters later, Boudrias hit a pop fly to left field, deep enough for Pinales to tag up and score the go-ahead run. Burgos left after the fifth which left him in line for the win.

Chris Munro (Marshfield, Mass.) took over for the next two innings and did not allow a hit. Riley singled in the seventh, bringing home Huegi to give the Beacons a 3-1 lead.

Mike Doherty (Brewster, Mass.) entered the game to start the eighth. It was six up and six down for the big righty as he closed out the contest to earn his first save.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Burgos improved to 7-0 on the year with the game-two win, while Morin improved to 4-1
• With his save in game one, Tramondozzi tied the single season record with his seventh, matching Manny Garcia 2016 record
• In game one the Beacons recorded 11 hits, while in game two they finished with nine
• The Beacons have now won nine straight over the Owls and 11 of their last 12

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will travel to the University of Southern Maine on Tuesday for a 3:30 pm conference game.