‘Cats Lose to Trailblazers in Sloppy, Rain Shortened Game

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass – With the rain, and snow in some places, falling all afternoon, the AMCATS and MCLA Trailblazers were the only show in town at New England Baseball Complex Tuesday afternoon. The game itself got as sloppy as the weather and finally, at the end of the fifth inning, the game was called with MCLA getting the win, 11-9, over Anna Maria.

The AMCATS scored their nine runs on just four hits, with the hits coming from Greg Gehring, who went two-for-two in the game with an RBI and the only AMC extra base hit, Mike Tourony, who was one-for-three with two RBI, and Jeff Falk, who came in for starting second baseman Jack Marzec and went one-for-one with a run scored. Sophomore Adam Twitchell had a zero-for-one day at the plate but managed to drive in two runs, both on bases loaded walks, and scored a run of his own. Similarly, Nick Genatossio had no official at-bat in the game, walked once, recording and RBI on a bases loaded walk and scored two runs. All in all, the MCLA pitchers dished out 10 free passes to the AMCATS. Anna Maria left eight runners on base in the game. Starting pitcher Tanner Jakola went three innings, earning the loss in the game. He allowed five hits, four runs, all earned, walked two and struck out three hitters.

MCLA totaled nine hits and nine walks which led to 11 runs and six men left on base. Nick DiSanti and the team's batting average leader, Jeff Bink each had multi-hit games. DiSanti went two-for-three, Bink, two-for-two. Logan Rumbolt, who leads the team in extra base hits, went one-for-three in the game with a double with Brett LaBonte recording the teams only other extra base hits, a three-run home run in a one-for-two day with four RBI. Starter Shawn James pitched three innings, allowing one hit, two runs which were both earned. He walked five and struck out three.

The game began fairly routine with the Trailblazers getting on the board first in the top of the first inning on a LaBonte sacrifice fly to center. The AMCATS couldn't score in the bottom of the first and neither team plated a runner in the second.

In the third inning, LaBonte hit a three-run home run opening the game up to a 4-0 MCLA advantage, a trend they would continue in the fourth. The top of the fourth saw six more runners cross for MCLA, giving them a double-digit, 10-0 lead after three and a half. The AMCATS answered in the bottom of the fourth, scoring five runs, cutting the lead in half. Justin Robbins was the first to score on Gehring's double. With the bases loaded, Genatossio was hit by a pitch, scoring pinch runner Hunter Tierney. Now 10-2, Twitchell drove in the third 'Cats run on a sacrifice fly to right that plated Cam Hartman. Anna Maria followed those runs up with back-to-back bases loaded walks scoring Falk and Genatossio.

The Blazers added an eleventh run in the fifth when Rumbolt scored on a wild pitch. With the rain coming down in buckets and the game nearly three hours old, the AMCATS continued to fight back in the game, scoring four more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. They scored two runs on a bases load walk to Twitchell, then a wild pitch which scored Falk. Tourony drove in another with a single to left and then again, they scored a run on a wild pitch to make the score 11-9.

The teams then began the sixth inning and MCLA plated six runs. In the bottom of the inning the rain got heavier and the field conditions diminished. The umpire called the game with two outs in the bottoms of the sixth. By rule, the game then reverts back to the last full inning played, giving the Trailblazers the 11-9 victory in five innings.

The AMCATS begin Great Northeast Athletic Conference play this Saturday against Johnson & Wales University at 4pm in Haverhill, Mass at Trinity Stadium.