BOSTON, Mass. – Powered by a dominant showing on the mound from junior pitcher
Adam Maher, along with a big-time three-run homer from junior left fielder
Chris Kustigian, the UMass Dartmouth baseball team defeated Southern Maine, 6-0, in first-round Little East Conference Tournament action on Thursday. The Corsairs move on to the second round where they will face Eastern Connecticut on Friday morning. Meanwhile, the Huskies will play again later tonight against top-seed UMass Boston.
The Corsairs pitching duo of Maher and sophomore
Aidan O'Donnell combined for a three-hit shutout of the Huskies. Maher picked up the win, allowing just three hits with seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work. O'Donnell picked up his third save of the season, taking over in the eighth inning and allowing no hits and struck out two.
After a scoreless first inning, it was UMass Dartmouth who struck first in the bottom of the second inning, starting with a leadoff double from senior third baseman
Andrew Possi. Senior catcher
Matt Tempone was walked, and with two outs, Kustigian blasted a huge three-run homerun over the left field fence to put the Corsairs up 3-0 early in the game.
UMD added a run onto their lead in the third inning, after a leadoff single from sophomore center fielder
Brett Baker set him up to score on an RBI double from junior second baseman
Devyn Vezina. The Corsairs led 4-0 after three innings of play. The pitchers on both teams restricted any more runs from coming in for the following four innings.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, UMass Dartmouth was able to stretch their lead to 6-0 with another pair of runs. The inning began with a leadoff single from freshman shortstop
Cooper Wixon, who eventually scored on an RBI single from Possi. Grad student DH
Joe Muzio, who was intentionally walked and advanced to third on the Possi single, was brought in on grad student right fielder
Anthony Keefe's RBI single.
O'Donnell closed things out on the mound with a strikeout looking, as the Corsairs took the 6-0 victory in the first round of the Little East Conference Tournament. Southern Maine junior pitcher Clay Robbins shouldered the loss on the mound. He allowed four runs on eight hits with three strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work.
From the plate, the Corsairs were led by Kustigian, who went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run, thanks to his three-run homer in the second inning. Possi was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, while Baker went 2-for-4 with a run. Keefe and Vezina each went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
The Corsairs will face the Warriors from Eastern Connecticut in the Semifinal Round of the LEC Tournament tomorrow. First pitch will be at a time still to be determined in Boston, Massachusetts.
