SantaBarbara Silences River Hawks
Easton, Mass. - Behind a complete game, four-hit performance from senior Nick SantaBarbara (Middleton, Mass.), Stonehill took the first game of a crucial three game set with visiting UMass-Lowell, 4-2 on Saturday afternoon on Lou Gorman Field.
Because Bentley rallied to defeat Southern New Hampshire earlier in the day, only one Northeast-10 postseason playoff spot remains available. Stonehill needs to win its final two games in order to advance to postseason play, while a win by UMass-Lowell in either of the games scheduled for Sunday would eliminate the Skyhawks and the River Hawks would earn the final spot.
SantaBarbara was excellent in picking up his sixth win of the season and fourth complete game in his last contest at Lou Gorman Field. He scattered four hits and gave up two runs while striking out five, including the game's final batter.
Stonehill scored two runs in the third to take the early lead. With one out and runners on second and third, Matt Orr (Wilton, Conn.) scored on a wild pitch. Then Dave Fradette (Goffstown, N.H.) drove in a run with a single to right to make the score 2-0. It looked as if the inning was going to feature more runs but Ryan Healey (Lynn, Mass.) was thrown out at home on a single by Shane Franz (Cazenovia, N.Y.).
The River Hawks finally got to SantaBarbara in the fifth when a double and a single had runners on the corners with one out. SantaBarbara got back-to-back flyouts and only allowed one run.
The score remained 2-1 until the seventh when Jared Notargiacomo crushed a SantaBarbara offering over the left center field fence to knot the game at 2-2.
Stonehill responded in the seventh when Healey drove in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly and the Skyhawks tacked on another in the eighth on a failed suicide squeeze but Nate Weber (Hanson, Mass.) managed to score to make it 4-2.
After allowing the homerun, SantaBarbara retired the final seven River Hawk batters of the game to secure the 100th career win for the class of 2008.
Notargiacomo drove in both runs for UMass-Lowell, while Fradette was the only player in the game to record multiple hits (2-for-3).
Kyle Davis (3-4) suffers the loss for the River Hawks after going 6.2 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) and striking out four but walking five.
Stonehill (24-21) will head to Lowell tomorrow for a twinbill that is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.