MANSFIELD, Conn. -Â Juniors
Andrew Bryant and
DJ Perron set the tone Thursday afternoon with back-to-back home runs in the first inning. Jump starting the fifth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth baseball team to a 13-4 victory over sixth-seeded Plymouth State in an elimination game in the Little East Conference (LEC) Baseball Tournament.
The Corsairs (16-22-1) advance to day three, where they will play the loser of Rhode Island College and UMass Boston. The Panthers (14-26) see their season come to an end.
Bryant and Perron each finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored, while sophomore
Matthew Klett went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI. Freshman Chase Parisaeu tallied two hits with two RBI. Graduate student
Tylor Arruda picked up the win on the mound, striking out six over 6.1 innings, while sophomore
Chase Carey and senior
Mike Sollitto combined for 2.2 scoreless innings.
After senior
Chase Stafford singled to get the first inning started, Bryant went deep for a two-run shot, and Perron followed with a solo home run to make it a 3-0 lead. Plymouth State got two back in the home half on an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, and evened the score in the second with another base hit.
It took until the sixth for the Corsairs to pull away. Pariseau knocked in Klett and freshman
Scott Cromack with a base hit to make it a 5-3 game. Four more runs came across in the seventh on Perron's single, a bases loaded balk, and a two-RBI base knock to extend the lead to 9-3.
Plymouth State's final run of the day came in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double. But a four-run eighth put it away for the Corsairs when sophomore
Andrew Possi drove one in and later scored on a wild pitch, and sophomore
Matt Tempone came across on an error.
UMass Dartmouth plays at 3:30 on Friday against the loser of Rhode Island College and UMass Boston.
