Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - UMass Dartmouth give up two late runs as the Golden Bears of Western New England rallied past the Corsairs for a 6-5 final Thursday afternoon at Trelease Park. The Corsairs fall to 9-12 on the season while Western New England clinches its sixth-straight to go to 16-4.
All nine starters for the Corsairs registered at least one hit on the day, led by sophomore Jose Vasquez (Roxbury, Mass.), who went 3-for-4 at the plate and scoring two runs.
Both starting pitchers would not let a run cross the plate until the bottom of the fourth, when Western New England struck with two outs. Freshman Ben LaCroix (Branford, Conn.) singled to right center field to plate senior Eduardo Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) from second.
UMass Dartmouth answered back in the top half of the fifth with a pair of runs. Freshman Ryan Ainslie (Weymouth, Mass.) hit a sacrifice fly to right field, deep enough for sophomore Mac Curran (Lakeville, Mass.) to score from third. Sophomore Josh O'Neill (Halifax, Mass.) singled to left field, which scored Vasquez from second to pull the Corsairs ahead 2-1.
The Corsairs expanded their lead in the top half of the sixth, when Ainslie hit a dribbler back to the pitcher who threw to first and scored Curran from third. O'Neill added an insurance run when he reached on a fielder's choice to score Vasquez from third.
In the bottom half of the frame, Western New England cut the deficit to one run with a two-run single by freshman Alex Loparco (Riverside, Conn.) to left field.
Freshman Erick Ramirez (Boston, Mass.) would send the Corsairs lead back to two when he scrambled home from third on a passed ball in the top of the seventh.
Western New England answered right back in the bottom of the seventh when Colmenares scored senior Scott Hubener (Mendon, Mass.) from third on a sacrifice fly to center field to bring the Golden Bears deficit back to one.
The hosts then rallied with two outs in the bottom half of the eighth to score two runs to take the lead. Senior Matt Calzone (Middlebury, Conn.) laced a double down the left field line to tie the game up at five a side, before classmate Bryan Previte (Darien, Conn.) squeezed one past the third base bag to score Calzone and take the lead for the Golden Bears.
UMass Dartmouth could only muster out one hit in the ninth, before Senior Matt Fedor (Monroe, Conn.) finished off the Corsair batters.
Junior Sean Callahan (Colchester, Vt.) took the loss after allowing one run in the bottom of the eighth. Senior Aaron Chouinard (Swansea, Mass.) got the start for the Corsairs, going five innings of work and striking out seven batters while only giving up one run. Fedor picked up his first win on the year after pitching the eighth and the ninth for the Golden Bears.
UMass Dartmouth will look to get back in the win colummn as it travels to take on the Beacons of UMass Boston in Little East Conference action on Saturday. First pitch of the double header is slated for 2 p.m.
