Sittig Sets Career Strikeout Mark By Fanning Six As Baseball Drops Heartbreaking 1-0 Northeast-10 Decision To Merrimack

April 6, 2006

STONEHILL BASEBALL

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Gorman Field, Easton, Mass.

FINAL:MERRIMACK 1, STONEHILL 0

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Merrimack (8-11, 4-4 Northeast-10)100000000-180

Stonehill (11-11, 7-3 Northeast-10)000000000-041

BATTERIES

MER:Brian DeMasse and Bob McCarthy

STO:Billy Sittig and Matt Vaughn

WP:DeMasse (2-2)LP:Sittig (3-2)

EASTON, Mass.-- Junior Brian DeMasse (Reading, Mass.) tossed a complete-game four-hitter and struck out six as Merrimack made an unearned run in its first at-bat hold up for a 1-0 Northeast-10 Conference baseball victory over Stonehill Thursday afternoon at Gorman Field.

DeMasse evened his record at 2-2 on the season with the shutout for the visiting Warriors (8-11, 4-4 Northeast-10), who plated their run in the top of the first when freshman Bob McCarthy (Chelmsford, Mass.) singled, advanced to third on a double by junior Rick Sotiropoulos (Ipswich, Mass.) and scored on a passed ball. Sotiropoulos had three of Merrimack's eight hits on the afternoon, including a pair of doubles, while senior Jeff Ghiloni (South Portland, Maine) had a pair of hits for the visitors in support of DeMasse.

Senior All-America Billy Sittig (West Roxbury, Mass.) was the tough luck loser on the mound for the host Skyhawks (11-11, 7-3 Northeast-10), but his first inning strikeout of Ghiloni enabled him to become Stonehill's career leader in strikeouts, as he fanned six on the afternoon to run his career total to 243 and surpass Mark Henry's career total of 237 in that category from 2000 through 2003. Sittig stranded nine Merrimack runners on the afternoon in falling to 3-2 on the season, as junior Tom Aldrich (New Canaan, Conn.) had a pair of hits in the setback for the Skyhawks.

Stonehill travels to Albany, N.Y. on Sunday afternoon for a Northeast-10 outing with Saint Rose that begins at 1:00 p.m., while Merrimack hosts 25th-ranked Franklin Pierce in a Northeast-10 contest on Friday afternoon in North Andover, Mass. at 3:30 p.m.