Box Score PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Behind a two-run effort in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Castleton University baseball team posted a 3-2 victory over UMass Dartmouth in Little East Conference Tournament action on Thursday afternoon.
With the win, the sixth-seeded Spartans move to 18-21 on the season and advance to Friday's action at 11:30am against the loser of game six between second-seeded Eastern Connecticut and third-seeded Southern Maine. The Corsairs see their season come to an end, finishing 19-19 for the 2023 season.
Trailing by one run heading into the top of the sixth, the Corsairs finally brought a run across in a series of unconventional plays. With senior first baseman
Matt Tempone on first, rookie center fielder
Brett Baker dropped down a sacrifice bunt, legging it out to first as the ball slipped past the fielder. That drop allowed Tempone to round second as he headed for third.
The Spartans made the move to get Tempone out at third, but the ball was once again thrown past, allowing Tempone to head home to tie the contest. As Tempone headed home, Baker made the move to come all the way around to third, but was cut down for the second out and Castleton got out of the inning soon after.
Senior hurler
Ryan Qualey, who had faced several bases loaded situations that he'd gotten out of, posted a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the frame to send the teams into the seventh inning tied, 1-1.
Top of the seventh,
Andrew Bryant on, Neikam lays down a sac bunt to move AB over. A wild pitch then moves Bryant to third and he came home soon after on another wild pitch for the 2-1. With two outs on the board, catcher TJ Keefe sent a deep ball to the wall for the double, but the Corsairs were unable to plate any additional runs.
Castleton fired back in the bottom of the inning, as Jackson Cardozo singled through the left side. A walk to Hunter Perkins saw Qualey retired for the day as
Chase Carey came on in relief. The runners advanced a base on a wild pitch and a double to right center from Brandon Ramirez brought in both base runners for a 3-2 lead with one out on the board. With runners on the corners, a heads up play by second baseman
Devyn Vezina got the runner out at home to end the inning.
Back to the plate with work to do in the eighth, the Corsairs got a lead-off single from Tempone and despite advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Baker, UMD was unable to plate the run and tie the game as Castleton hurler Brayden Howrigan got both Vezina and shortstop
DJ Perron to strike out swinging to end the top of the inning.
The Corsairs got a great inning of relief from junior
Andrew Steinhubel in the bottom of the eighth as he got Ryan Lawrence to ground out. Despite a walk to Reece de Castro, UMD caught him in a run-down between first and second, followed by a ground out from Tyler McLain to send it to the top of the ninth and the final stand for the Corsairs.
Howrigan had another outstanding effort in the top of the ninth, shutting down the side, including his ninth of the contest to give the Spartans the victory. He went 9.0 innings, allowing two runs (1 earned) on four hits, walking just four batters.
For the Corsairs, Qualey shouldered the loss, going 6.1 innings with three runs allowed on seven hits. He also struck out nine, walking four in the contest.
