Baseball Battles to 11-10 Victory Over Blazers

Northborough, Mass.- The Anna Maria College baseball team battled to an 11-10 victory over the Blazers of Elms College on Friday afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex. An RBI single by freshman Dylan Carissimo (Tampa, Fla.) lifted the AMCATS to victory in the top of the eighth inning.

The win boosts the AMCATS to 7-10 overall while the Blazers fall to 3-8 on the season.

AMCAT LEADERS

Junior, Tanner Jakola (Leominster, Mass.) led the AMCATS at the plate going four-for-four and scoring four runs. Carissimo added to the AMCAT scoring as he went one-for-four with three RBIs on the day. Senior, Nate Gray (Kingston, N.Y.) went one-for-two at the plate with a home run and three runs scored.

Zach Parker (Manchester, N.H.) earned the win on the mound for the AMCATS. He pitched three innings while allowing just three hits and no runs scored. He struck out two batters.

BLAZER LEADERS

Kyle Platner led Elms with three hits, three runs and two RBIs on the day. Stephen Harrison added three hits and three RBIs for the home team. Platner and Harrison both posted doubles in the loss.

Cody Lemieux pitched six innings scattering eight hits, six runs (three earned) and one strike out. Anthony Palumbo recorded the loss as he came in to pitch an inning, giving up two hits and an earned run.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Anna Maria opened up scoring in the top of the first inning with four runs. Carissimo hit a sacrifice fly ball to centerfield to score Jakola from third base. Sophomore Connor Lavin (Leicester, Mass.) hit a line drive down the left field line to score Jonathan Roy (Worcester, Mass.) and advance Gray to third and an Elms fielding error would result in two more runs for the AMCATS (4-0). The Blazers tallied two unearned runs at the bottom of the first following an Anna Maria fielding error to bring the score to 4-2.

Elms tightened the score to 4-3 at the bottom of the third with an RBI by Aedin Wadja but the inning left three players on base. The AMCATS could not hold on to their lead for much longer as the Blazers tallied another two runs in the bottom of the fourth to put them up 5-4.

Anna Maria responded with a two run inning that included a sacrifice fly, RBI from Roy and a home run to left center field from Gray (6-5).

Elms took the lead again in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI from Harrison, scoring Brian Hungerford who reached base on a walk. The Blazers went up 7-6 on an Anna Maria infielding error.

The AMCATS were able to extend their lead to 10-7 in the bottom of the sixth as a couple of errors by the home team and a couple wild pitches gave Anna Maria the chance to put four more runs on the board. 

Elms never let up and earned those runs back at the plate, tieing it up 10-10 in the bottom of the seventh. A two RBI double by Plattner led them to the what looked like a comeback. Anna Maria's defense held them off over the next two innings and the AMCATS were able to score one more run in the top of the eigth off of a single up the middle from Carrissimo that scored Jakola for the 11-10 final victory.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Anna Maria baseball travels to Clark University on Sunday March, 26 for a double header starting at 12:00 p.m. Elms travels to Becker on the same day for a double header starting at 10:00 a.m.