Junior Alex McCormick collected his third win of the season with eight strong innings of work this afternoon. |
Stonehill Silences UMass Lowell, 6-1
McCormick holds River Hawks to four hits, four-run fourth lifts Skyhawks to win
EASTON, Mass. (April 14, 2010) – Stonehill College, ranked seventh in this week’s NCAA Division II East Regional rankings, picked up its fourth-straight win with a 6-1 victory over sixth-ranked University of Massachusetts Lowell in a key Northeast-10 Conference baseball matchup at Lou Gorman Field this afternoon.
Junior righthander Alex McCormick (Weymouth, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) settled down after a shaky first inning and turned in eight strong innings to earn the win (3-2) on the mound for Stonehill. He allowed the one earned run while scattering four hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Senior righthander Joe SantaBarbara (Danvers, Mass./Masconomet) closed the game out with a scoreless ninth,
Junior Brenden Shepard (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) paced the offense for Stonehill as he hit 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Senior Shane Franz (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia) was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, while classmate Ryan Healey (Lynn, Mass./Lynn English) batted 2-for-3 with a run scored. Sophomore Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, while junior Angelo Bruno (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) chipped in with his Conference-leading eighth home run of the season.
Senior Shane Franz had two hits, scored two runs and added an RBI. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Sophomore Cam Kneeland (Rowley, Mass./Triton Regional) paced the UMass Lowell offense, which was held to just five hits, going 1-for-4 with an RBI. Senior Jared Notargiacomo (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) finished 1-for-2 with a double, while sophomore Matt Jacobs (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) hit 1-for-4 with a stolen base and run scored.
Junior righthander Ted Haley (Cranston, R.I./Cranston West) took the loss (1-3), allowing five earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks in five-plus innings.
UMass Lowell struck first with its lone run in the top of the first. Jacobs reached on a chopped single to third, stole second, and then scored on a one-out single up the middle by Kneeland. McCormick worked out of another jam in the second, but settled in from there, retiring ten of 11 batters from the second through fifth innings.
Stonehill scored all the runs it would need with its four-run fourth. Bruno and Healey led off with walks and Franz delivered a one-out RBI single to left that knotted the score. White loaded the bases with a shallow single through the left side before Shepard drilled a two-run double to right center. Senior Michael Von Stein (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) drove in the fourth run on a ground out.
Stonehill added a run in the sixth when Franz led off with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by senior Mitch Davis (Bow, N.H./Bow). Bruno capped the scoring when he led off the seventh with his eighth homer of the season.
Stonehill (15-11, 10-4 NE-10) is back in action on Saturday when it opens a huge four-game weekend with a Northeast-10 doubleheader at No. 23-ranked and first-place Southern Connecticut State University at noon. The Skyhawks return home on Sunday for a pair of makeup games with 24th-ranked Adelphi University at Gorman Field starting at 1 p.m. UMass Lowell (19-17, 7-10 NE-10) visits Merrimack College tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.
