Corsairs Knock Off UMass Boston to Advance to LEC Championship

MANSFIELD, Conn. - The incredible ride for the fifth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth baseball team is moving on to the Little East Conference (LEC) Championship Game after knocking off third-seeded UMass Boston, 10-6, Friday night. 

The Corsairs (18-22-1) have now defeated the two and three seeds on the same day to set up a date with top-seeded and No. 1 in the country Eastern Connecticut on Saturday, who they will have to beat twice to win the title. The Beacons (26-17) see their season come to an end.

Junior DJ Perron has been tearing it up this postseason and went 2-for-5 with five RBI and a run scored, including a two-run home run. Junior Andrew Bryant had another great game, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a pair of walks with a run scored, while freshman Devyn Vezina was 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored.

UMass Dartmouth never trailed thanks to Perron's two-run shot in the first inning. After Bryant walked with two outs, Perron drilled his ninth homer over the right field fence to make it a quick 2-0 advantage. The Beacons got an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to cut their deficit in half.

Two more crossed in the second for UMass Dartmouth. Sophomore Matt Tempone walked and advanced to third after back-to-back singles by freshman Chase Pariseau and Vezina. Senior Chase Stafford then drove in Tempone with a sacrifice fly, and Bryant knocked in Pariseau with a base hit to make it a 4-1 lead. UMass Boston tied it up at four with a two-RBI double and a base hit in the bottom of the second.

The score remained 4-4 until the fourth when UMass Dartmouth put up three runs. Perron drove in his third and fourth runs of the game with a base hit, and Stafford stole home on a double steal to extend the lead to 7-4.

UMass Boston tried its best to get back into it. A two-run home run off the bat of senior Nico Kydes brought the score to 7-6.

That was all the Beacons would get as the Corsairs added two more runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Perron and Stafford scoring on a throwing error. Freshman Adam Maher entered the game on the mound in bottom of the sixth and did not allow a UMass Boston run for the remainder of the game.

Bryant singled home Vezina in the eighth to add one more insurance run. 

Sophomore Chase Carey threw the third, fourth, and fifth innings and earned the win on the mound, not allowing an earned run with five strikeouts. Maher kept the Beacons off the board in the final four innings and struck out three to send the Corsairs to the championship.

UMass Dartmouth goes up against No. 1 Eastern Connecticut at 12 p.m. on Saturday. The Corsairs will have to win that game to force a winner-take-all game two at 3:30 p.m.