BOSTON, Mass. – After grinding out a 3-2 game one win, the 22nd/29th ranked Beacons cruised to their first Little East Conference sweep with an 11-2 win in the nightcap as they handed Keene State College their first two LEC losses of 2019 Sunday afternoon at Monan Park.
THE BASICS
GM1: UMass Boston 3, Keene State College 2
GM2: UMass Boston 11, Keene State College 2
#22/29 UMass Boston (8-4, 2-0 Little East Conference)
Keene State College (4-9, 0-2 Little East Conference)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After narrowly escaping with the win in the opener, the Beacons bats came alive in game two as they pounded out 12 hits, which featured an in the park home run from Eddie Riley (Quincy, Mass.) in the seventh inning. Ryan McCormick (Cumberland, R.I.) had a solid day at the plate for the Beacons as he finished with four hits, four RBI and a run scored. Nick Herzog (Riverhead, N.Y.) recorded three runs scored, and had a career-high four stolen bases in the nightcap.
GAME 1 – UMB 3, KSC 2
The Beacons struck first in game one as McCormick drove in Kyle Boudrias on an RBI single through the right side. Keene State would then tie the score at 1-1 in the top of the third inning on a single to deep center field.
The deciding inning for UMB, was the sixth, as freshman catcher Nico Kydes (Stamford, Conn.) knocked in two-runs on a single to right center to make it a 3-1 ball game. Keene State made things very interesting in the seventh inning at Tom Meucci crushed a solo shot over the left field wall to make it a one-run game. That solo shot ended the day for the Beacons starter Fernando Burgos (Hyde Park, Mass.), who did earn the win after going 6.1.
The Beacons bullpen held the Owls to just the one hit in the seventh, and allowed just one other hit in the top of the ninth. Matt Demma (Worcester, Mass.) came in after Burgos and recorded three strikeouts, while not allowing a base runner in 1.2 innings of work. Bobby Tramondozzi (Peabody, Mass.) earned the save, his fourth of the season, in the ninth, which included one strikeout.
GAME 2 – UMB 11, KSC 2
The second game was the complete opposite for the Beacons offense. After being held to just six hits in their one-run game one win, UMB erupted for eight hits and seven runs through the first three innings to take a commanding a 7-0 lead.
Keene State managed their first of the two runs in the fourth, but were quickly countered by a Beacons run in the bottom half of the inning to keep the deficit at seven. UMB then pushed their lead to eight in the sixth on a McCormick RBI single.
The top of the seventh produced the final run of the contest for the Owls, but saw the Beacons plate two more to extend their lead to 11-2. The inning was highlighted by Riley's in the park home run, and also saw McCormick drive in another run.
Tylor Arruda (New Bedford, Mass.) earned his second win of the season after allowing just one run on three hits in six innings of work. The Beacons bullpen closed out the contest as five different pitchers made an appearance.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With his three hits on the day, senior Kyle Boudrias (Medford, Mass.) became just the fourth player in program history to record 200 career hits
- With his four steals in the nightcap, Herzog tied the single game program record for steals in a game; He is the first player to tie the mark since 2011
- UMass Boston has now won 13 of their last 14 meetings with Keene State
- The Beacons have now swept the Owls in five regular season doubleheaders since the 2015 season
- With the game one win UMB has now won five straight LEC season openers
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will host UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in a Little East Conference single game.