|
|
Freshman Dan Corrigan pitched five strong innings of relief to pick up his second win of the season. |
Easton, Mass. - Javier Guzman (San Juan, P.R.) led a Stonehill offensive attack that scored eight unanswered runs, erasing a 6-4 ninth inning deficit in the process to take a 12-6 win in 13 innings over visiting St. Anselm on Tuesday afternoon on Lou Gorman Field.
Guzman, who went 4-for-6 with five RBI, came up with two huge hits in clutch situations to propel the Skyhawks to their fourth straight win.
Freshman Dan Corrigan (Portsmouth, R.I.) also played a major role, tossing five innings of stellar relief, allowing just four hits to collect his second win of the season.
After Stonehill tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the eighth, Ryan Gargan blasted a two-run homer off of Skyhawk reliever Joe Goodwin (Norwood, Mass.), giving St. Anselm a 6-4 lead going into the ninth inning.
The Hawks turned to reliever Mike O'Rourke, who recorded the first out before walking Matt Orr (Wilton, Conn.). Rob Von Stein then reached on an error, putting runners on first and second with just one out. A groundout to first moved both runners into scoring position for Guzman, who singled to right driving in both runs to even the score at 6-6.
Corrigan held the Hawks at bay until the top of the 13th when the flood gates opened for Stonehill, with the help of two St. Anselm errors.
Shane Franz' (Cazenovia, N.Y.) single to center drove in Brenden Shepard (Boxford, Mass.), who reached to open the inning when he was hit by a pitch. Franz then advanced to second on an Angelo Bruno (Norwalk, Conn.) single. They both moved up 90 feet following a Hawk error and Franz scored when Scott Hackett was hit by a pitch.
Guzman then drove in two more with a single and the final run came off the bat of Nate Weber (Hanson, Mass.) on a groundout to the pitcher.
In addition to Guzman, several other Skyhawks had productive afternoons. Orr went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and Shepard had two hits, two runs and two RBI.
Freshman Shane Penzone (Hudson, Mass.), who started the game for Stonehill, gave up five earned runs in 7.1 innings, but struck out six and retired 13 of the last 16 batters he faced. He struck out the side in the fifth and got a tremendous sliding grab down the right field line in the fourth from Bruno.
Nick Barese, the starter for St. Anselm, went eight innings, yielding nine hits and three earned runs. David Giarrusso, the Hawks closer, took the loss after going 3.2 and allowing two earned runs and four hits.
The game, which was originally scheduled to be played at St. Anselm but was relocated because of field conditions, lasted three hours and 15 minutes.
The two teams will play again on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. on Lou Gorman Field.