Worcester State College
Baseball Game Recap
March 31, 2007
Lancers Split Twinbill with Bridgewater
State
(Courtesy Bridgewater State
Sports Information)
BRIDGEWATER, Ma. – In MASCAC baseball action this afternoon from
Alumni Park, the Bridgewater State Bears split a double header with
a visiting Lancers of Worcester State College.
Worcester (6-7, 1-1 MASCAC) won the first game 2-1, and the Bears
(5-6, 1-1 MASCAC) earned a split with a 9-5
victory in game 2.
In game one, senior Steve DiRoberto (Worcester, MA) and senior
Jordan Richards (Amesbury, MA) locked up in an old-fashioned
pitcher’s dual. DiRoberto allowed only 1 run on 7 hits in his eight
innings or work. Richards gave a solid effort on the mound for the
Bears, going the distance to pitch all nine innings and holding the
Lancers to just 1 earned run on 7 hits. Each pitcher had six
strikeouts on the day.
“It’s great to see two seniors go out and pitch so well…It’s why you
come out to watch a college baseball game,” admired Worcester State
Head Coach Dirk Baker.
Worcester State got on the board first as Nate Nelson (Worcester,
MA) singled and moved to third on a base hit by Chris Gusha
(Rutland, MA.) After a walk to Kirk Monbleau (Dracut, MA) loaded the
bases, Nelson came around to score on an RBI groundout by junior
Chris Logan (Spencer, MA).
The Bears battled back to tie the game up in the fifth when senior
Jay Lamoureux (SS, Walpole, MA) reached on an error, moved to second
on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a single by sophomore Brad
Koneski (RF, North Dighton, MA). Lamoureux was then able to score
the trying run as he scrambled home on a wild pitch.
The contest moved into extra innings as neither team was able to
push across a run in the sixth or seventh innings.
With the game tied 1-1 at the top of the 9th, the Lancers were able
push across the winning run. Logan singled to center and moved to
second on a sacrifice bunt. After freshman Mason Poce (Leicester,
MA) was intentionally walked, Richards induced a shallow fly out to
right for the second out of the inning. The Bears looked as though
they
would get out of the jam, however back to back infield grounders
were turned in to errors which allowed the winning run to score.
Logan finished 3-for-4 in game one to highlight the Lancers
seven-hit attack.
Sophomore catcher Kelly LaDow (East Falmouth, MA) was a perfect
3-for-3 at the plate while Koneski went 2-for-5 as BSC also banged
out seven hits.
In the second game, the Bears got out to an early 6-1 lead and held
on for the 9-5 victory. The star of the day was no doubt LaDow who
finished 4-for-4 with 6 runs batted in. Overall, the sophomore
batted a perfect 7-for-7 in the doubleheader. He doubled in two runs
in the Bears four-run first inning, and gave BSC a 6-1 lead with a
two-run
single in the third.
After the games, the sophomore catcher reflected on his performance:
“I was hitting the ball pretty well. It’s nice to see a couple of
hits fall and get a couple of RBIs in the game.”
“Kelly had a day like he is supposed to have,” said BSC Head Coach
Rick Smith. “He’s just a great player, and he was good defensively
behind the plate.”
Worcester displayed some firepower of their own as the rallied for
five runs in the sixth highlighted by two-run homer by Billy Manley
(Lowell, MA).The Lancers added two more runs in the inning on RBI
singles by Logan and junior Chris Atchue (Westboro, MA) to pull to
within a run at 6-5.
In the end, however, the Bridgewater State offense proved too much
to handle as LaDow was able to drive in two more runs in the bottom
of the sixth with a single down the left field line. The Bears
scored three times in the sixth to increase their lead to 9-6.
Sophomore Dave Liffers (Norwell, MA) improved to 3-0 on the season
as he went 5 2/3 innings allowing 5 runs on 8 hits while walking 2
and striking out 1. Junior Brian Schilling (Weymouth, MA) pitched an
1 1/3 innings to earn his first career save as he worked out of a
second and third jam in the sixth and hurled a scoreless ninth
Senior Eric Grabowski (Auburn, MA) took the loss for Worcester State
as he allowed 6 runs (only 1 of which was earned) on 5 hits over the
first 3 innings. He walked 3 and struck out 3.
Along with LaDow’s performance, junior Steve Smith (East Taunton,
MA) walked 4 times in game two and also scored 3 runs.
Logan went 2-for-4 in the nightcap and finished 5-for-8 with 2 runs
and 2 RBIs in the twinbill.
Box
Score Game 1
Box
Score Game 2