Falcons Clip Anna Maria,6-5

FITCHBURG, Mass. (March, 19, 2014) – The Fitchburg State baseball team was in action this afternoon, defeated the AMCATS of Anna Maria College, 6-5 in non-conference action at Pappas Field on the campus of Franklin Pierce University.

Fitchburg State broke a 0-0 stalemate in the top of the third inning when junior Pierce Hans (Washington Township, N.J.) brought home senior David Mason (Leominster, Mass.) with a sacrifice fly to left field and an RBI single off the bat of freshman Mike St. John (Rehoboth, Mass.) for the 2-0 lead.

The Falcons upped its lead in the following stanza as newcomer Joe Lyons (W. Roxbury, Mass.) led off the inning with a double to left field, advanced to third on a ground out and crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by junior Patrick McMahon (S. Windsor, Conn.) for the 3-0 lead.

Anna Maria would grabbed their first lead of the contest in the bottom of the fourth when freshman Corey McNair (Shrewsbury, Mass.) drove in senior John Sullivan (Southbury, Conn.) and junior David Julian (Sterling, Mass)  before junior Tyler Stuart (Oxford, Mass.) plated McNair and scored on an ensuring error for the 4-3 margin after four innings of play.

The Green and Gold regained the lead in the top seventh frame when Drury knocked in junior Clayton Beaulieu (Chicopee, Mass.) with a triple to centerfield and scored on throwing miscue to make the score 5-4.

The AMCATS would respond in the bottom half of the stanza as senior Carlos Ortiz (Worcester, Mass.) and freshman Joshua Creamer (Groveland, Mass.) connected on back-to-back singles, before Sullivan plated Ortiz with a fly out to center to knot the score at 5-5.

Fitchburg State answered in the following inning as St. John doubled down the right field line, moved to third on an infield single by sophomore Javier Lozada (New Bedford, Mass.) and scored on single up the middle from Beaulieu, resulting in the 6-5 final.

Drury spared the Falcons offense, hitting 3-for-5 with a double, triple, two runs scored and one RBI, while St. John and Beaulieu combined for four hits, including a double, one run scored and two RBI.

For Anna Maria, Sullivan paced the offense, going 2-for-3 at the dish with a run scored and one RBI, while McNair was also solid, batting 1-for-3 with a double, two RBI and a run scored for the Amcats. 

On the mound freshman Joe St. Hilaire (Chelmsford, Mass.) improved to 4-0 on the season, allowing five runs (three earned) on eight hits and five strikeouts in seven and a third innings of work for Fitchburg State before giving way to Lozado, who retired five of the sixth hitters he faced en-route to his first save of the 2014 campaign.

Fitchburg State (10-3, 0-0 MASCAC) returns to action on Friday as it hosts the Leopards of Wentworth Institute for a contest starting at 3:30 p.m. (Contest will be played at Franklin Pierce University with Fitchburg State as the home team) Anna Maria (3-8, 0-0 GNAC) will host Lasell College on Saturday for a double header starting at 12 p.m.