WORCESTER, Mass. – Despite outhitting Nichols College 13-8 in Saturday afternoon's outing, the Worcester State University baseball team dropped a 10-6 decision to the Bison as Nichols scored 10 runs on eight hits and four Lancer errors.
Nichols' eight hits were scattered amongst six players. Nick Roy (Middletown, Conn.) and Matt Hardy (N. Attleboro, Mass.) led the offense as they both batted 2-for-4 on the day, while Hardy led the team in RBI with two.
Worcester State's batting leader was Mike Ferrara (Easton, Mass.) who went 3-for-5 from the dish. Jake Ryan (Northbridge, Mass.), Adam Barry (Auburn, Mass.), and Kenan Kolanda (Sterling, Mass.) each picked up two hits on the occasion. Ryan led the Lancers with a team-high two RBI.
The Bison took a great lead on the Lancers in the top of the 1st when they scored four runs on two hits and one Worcester State error. Hardy tallied the first RBI of the game on a sacrifice bunt. The next three runs came from Kyle Bouchard (Fall River, Mass.) who hit a 3-run homer to right field to put the Bison ahead 4-0 going into the bottom of the inning.
Nichols added one more run in the next inning on a sacrifice bunt from Roy.
The Lancers remained scoreless until the bottom of the 2nd when Ben Palatino (Hudson, Mass.) and Ryan plated Kolanda and Mike Powers (Weymouth, Mass.) on a single and a sacrifice fly, respectively, to put two runs up for the Blue and Gold.
Another run didn't cross the plate for either team until the top of the 4th when another unearned Nichols run crossed the plate, advancing the score to 6-2.
Each team tacked on two runs apiece in both the 5th and 6th innings to advance the score to 10-6. The Bison were not permitted a hit throughout the remainder of the game, while the Lancers only tallied two hits in the last three innings of play.
Nichols' starting pitcher, StigErik McElhinney (Dracut, Mass.) earned the win on the mound, as he pitched for five innings and allowed four runs on 10 hits. Nichols' relief pitchers, Brodie Altiere (N. Adams, Mass.) and Chris Dipilato (Worcester, Mass.) did not allow one hit in their single inning performances.
Worcester State's opening pitcher, Bradleigh Saltsman (Ayer, Mass.) suffered his first career loss in a 5-inning performance. Saltsman allowed eight runs (five unearned) and struck out three batters at the plate. The Lancers' relief pitchers, Owen Gibbons (Sterling, Mass.) and Andrew Reed (Douglas, Mass.), did not allow a single hit in their times on the mound.
Next up, the Lancers (9-13) travel to Framingham State on Monday (April 17) in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m. The Bison (15-11) resume play on the same date as they travel to Wheaton for a 4 p.m. game.