Lucier tallied a three-run triple for his fourth extra base hit of the season

Donlan went 2-for-3 with a run scored, RBI, sacrifice fly, and a triple

WALTHAM, Massachusetts (April 16, 2019) – The Stonehill College baseball team fell in its second game of the series against Bentley University in a close 8-7 game at Robert DeFelice Baseball Field in Northeast-10 Conference play on Tuesday afternoon.

The Skyhawks are now 16-20 overall and 7-9 in NE10 Conference play, while the Falcons improve to 12-18 overall and 9-7 in Conference play.

For Stonehill, freshman Noah Lucier came up with a big three-run triple to cut the deficit to one, 8-7, as he went 2-for-4 at the plate with one run across and three RBI. Three other Skyhawks recorded two hits each, including freshman Matt Donlan who went 2-for-3 with a run, RBI, sacrifice fly, and triple. Freshman Aidan Wilde swung 2-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI, while junior Rob Duarte went 2-for-4 with one RBI.

One of Bentley's hitters, Luke Figueira, who went 2-for-4 with one run scored and two RBI, lifted a solo homerun over the left field fences with one out in the bottom of the second to kick off a three run innings for the Falcons. With two outs, Kyle Halloran tripled to left field driving in Gino Fordiani who walked and Halloran easily scored on a single to make it 3-0.

Stonehill quickly responded in the top of the third with three runs of their own off of four hits to tie the game, 3-3. Donlan reached on a single to center field and with an error on Harrison Sabo's hit, the freshman scored, 3-1. In Wilde's second at bat, he singled to left field adding a run to the board with senior Matthew Rocco scoring from third, 3-2. Duarte was able to squeeze in one more run with his own single to even the score, 3-3.

The Falcons saw their second big inning of the day in the bottom of the fourth, where Troiani belted a two-run blast to left field for the second lead of the day, 5-3. With the bases loaded and one out, Brandon Grover doubled to add two more runs to the board, and Figueira notched his second hit of the day to put the eighth run on the board, 8-3.

Wilde was one of four Skyhawks that tallied two hits in the game

Once again the Skyhawks were able to respond to the Falcons' big inning with their own in the top of the sixth. With one out Duarte tallied the first hit with a single through the left side and the bases were quickly loaded after the second out as Lucier connected for his third triple of the season cutting the deficit to two, 8-6. Donlan followed with a fly ball to right field scoring Lucier from third for the fourth run of the inning, 8-7. The Falcons' struck out one of their seven batters to retire the inning.

Both teams were scoreless in each of the remaining innings, but Stonehill stranded two on base in the top of the ninth as Sabo walked and Wilde singled before the Falcons took the win with back-to-back fly outs to end the game. 

Stonehill travels to Rindge, New Hampshire this weekend for a three-game series against Franklin Pierce University with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 20 with a first pitch at noon. Join the Skyhawks on Wednesday, April 24 as Stonehill hosts Assumption College for the final game of the three-game series with a first pitch slated for 6:00 p.m. at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Massachusetts.

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