DARTMOUTH, Mass. — Senior
Jose Vasquez (Roxbury, Mass.) registered three hits and drove in a run to lead the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to an 8-3 victory over visiting Plymouth State University this afternoon in a Little East Conference baseball contest. Thirteen members of the Class of 2021 were sent out with a win in their final home regular-season contest at UMassD Baseball Field.
The Corsairs won their fourth consecutive contest to improve to 11-12 overall and 9-7 in the conference circuit. UMass Dartmouth clinched the fourth seed in the upcoming Little East Conference Championship tournament and will face fifth-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston (9-7) at 1pm on Thursday, May 13 in Mansfield, Conn. The Panthers completed their season with an 8-16 mark, including 4-12 in league play.
Vasquez extended his personal four-game hit streak with a 3-for-4 performance and two runs scored to pace the Corsair seven-hit attack. Sophomore
Andrew Bryant (Canton, Mass.) recorded a two-run double, while senior
Erick Ramirez (Boston, Mass.) added a pair of sacrifice flies. Junior
Kyle Denis (Warwick, R.I.) contributed a double in his only at-bat and scored the hosts' final run.
In his second start of the campaign, junior
Chase Stafford (Somerset, Mass.) threw three scoreless innings of one-hit ball. He did not walk a batter and matched his season-high in strikeouts with four. Senior
Shane Reardon (Kinnelan, N.J.) (2-2) entered the contest in the fourth and gave up a run on two hits to earn the decision.
UMass Dartmouth cracked the scoring column in the second, when sophomore Braxton Brown (Lancaster, N.H.) committed a balk to plate Vasquez and advance graduate student
Mitch Baker (Braintree, Mass.) to third. Senior
Tucker Hetherman (Webster, Mass.) made the balk prove extra costly with a sacrifice fly to right field to extend the hosts lead to 2-0. Brown (1-2) allowed seven runs in 4.1 innings to suffer the loss.
The Corsairs capitalized on a wild pitch and an errant throw in the third to double their advantage to 4-0. Ramirez lifted a sacrifice fly to left field in the fourth to push the lead to 5-0.
The Panthers broke through in the fifth as senior Peter Laviolette (Longboat, Fla.) ripped an RBI double to the left field fence. UMass Dartmouth responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half, when Bryant found the right centerfield gap to increase the advantage to 7-2. The Corsairs added an insurance run in the eighth on a Ramirez sacrifice fly and Plymouth State closed out the scoring on an errant throw.
Fans are permitted to attend the 2021 Little East Conference Baseball Championship at Eastern Connecticut. Fans unable to make the trip to Mansfield, can watch all the action live on LittleEast.com.
