Soulier and Duff strike out seven total in combined shutout for Skyhawks
Sophomore Zach Soulier earned his third win of the season on 6.1 innings pitched against Assumption. |
EASTON, Mass. (March 29, 2012) – Sophomore Zach Soulier (Milford, Conn./Jonathan Law) struck out a game-high five batters over six-and-one-thirds innings pitched and freshman reliever Jim Duff (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) did not surrender a hit in two-and-two-thirds innings to lead Stonehill College, ranked fourth overall in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Regional Poll, to a 2-0 shutout over Assumption College in Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) inter-divisional action on Thursday evening at Lou Gorman Field.
Soulier yielded just five hits and issued one walk to earn his third victory of the season (3-0). Duff, who faced the minimum in his outing, notched his first-career collegiate save on two strikeouts, five groundouts, one fly out and zero walks.
Freshman Zack LaRosa (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) was handed the loss on four innings pitched, five hits, one run (earned), one walk and two strikeouts.
After Soulier erased a first and second situation with one out in the top of the first on two swinging strikeouts, Stonehill claimed a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the frame as senior first baseman Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) plated junior centerfielder James DeAlto (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff) from third base on a double play ball.
Soulier held Assumption out of scoring position over the next two innings and retired nine-straight batters from the fourth inning to the sixth inning.
The Greyhounds threatened in the seventh inning loading the bases with one out.
Junior shortstop Shane Keddy (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Tech) led off the frame with a single but was forced out at second base (6-4) on a fielder's choice off the bat of senior third baseman Travis Smith (Coventry, R.I./Bishop Hendricken). Freshman right fielder Billy Johnson (Auburn, Mass./Holy Name) reached on a fielding error and junior first baseman Joe Lopes (Warwick, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) lined a single to left field to setting up a potential Assumption rally.
The Skyhawks went to the bullpen and Duff delivered with a strikeout against junior designated hitter Nick Napoli (Medford, Mass./Boston College) and a groundout from freshman left fielder Zachary Bombard (Belchertown, Mass./Cathedral) to keep the score at 1-0.
Stonehill pushed across an insurance run in the eighth inning as DeAlto tripled to the right centerfield gap to start the frame and junior shortstop Michael Zeiner (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) lifted an opposite field sacrifice fly to left for his 14th run batted in on the season and a 2-0 advantage.
Duff made quick work of the Greyhounds in the ninth retiring the side in order on a fly out to centerfield and two groundouts.
Zeiner led Stonehill offensively at the plate going 3-for-3 with one RBI while DeAlto was 2-for-4 with two runs scored out of the leadoff spot. White, sophomore second baseman Dan Fratus (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) and senior designated hitter Michael Magnussen (Carver, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) all collected a hit to round out the offense.
Stonehill (15-9, 3-3 NE-10, 0-1 Northeast Division) hosts Saint Michael's on Saturday, March 31 for a NE-10 doubleheader with game one scheduled for noon. Assumption (6-9, 0-4 NE-10, 0-1 Southwest Division) travels to Southern Connecticut State University for a doubleheader starting at noon.
Postgame Interview With Head Coach Pat Boen |
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