Worcester, MA- After another rainy weekend forced a shift in the schedule, the Lancers Baseball team (18-11, 9-7) returned to finish out the series with the Salem State vikings in the second to last conference series of the season.
Final
Game 1
Worcester State: 2
Salem State: 1
Game 2
Worcester State: 13
Salem State: 4
How it Happened:
Lancers pitcher graduate student Ben Smith (Bourne, MA) had a great start to this game with three strikeouts in a row which came in handy as Worcester was able to get a few hits off but were unable to convert those into runs. The Blue and Gold kept the game scoreless through the second before first year Chris Mondesir (Roslindale, MA) would go yard over the left field fence for a 1-0 score. The action would remain set at 1-0 with Smith dominating the mound until the sixth when senior Andrew Medina (Boston, MA) would ding off a single that would send in sophomore Tyler Normandie (Lowell, MA) for a 2-0 score. With 15ks already recorded in the game Smith looked to close out the game and set a new school record for strikeouts in a single game to wrap up the action. Salem would manage to find one run on Smith but in the end his momentum was too strong as Smith grabbed the game one win on a looking strike for 2-1 victory.
Solid fielding by Nomadie and a strikeout by senior Danny DiMassimo (Pittsfield, MA) would continue the success of game one in the second. An RBI by first year Jack Savio (Andover, MA) with junior Nathan Thurber (Framingham, MA) scoring would open up the action. A two run home run by Normandie would send him and Savio across. That was followed up by another two run home run by Mondesir, his second of the day, with senior Anthony Iamarone (Providence, RI) scoring off the contact. An RBI double by senior Xavier Quezda (Providence, RI) would send senior Mason Bates (Shrewsbury, MA) in for run six.
The Vikings would be shut out of the second with the Lancers tapping in another run as Iamarone doubled to send Savio across for a 7-0 lead into the third where Salem would finally manage to score their first run of the game. The fourth for the Vikings would be a more prolific attempt as they managed to force in three runs before the Lancers defense could close out the action to preserve the 7-4 lead. The bottom of the fourth would find Worcester scoring another run as an error on third to end the inning found first year Riggs Catlin (Dedham, MA) coming across the plate in the confusion.
The bottom of the fifth would find Worcester going on another scoring surge as a Catlin triple would bring in Mondesir and Quezada. A single from Thurber would send in Catlin for their third run of the inning. Savio would single to center to bring in Thurber with Normandie doubling, providing Savio time to come across for run five and set the score at 13-4 into the sixth which would hold until the final out for the Lancers to claim the second win and the series over the Vikings.
What's Next:
Worcester (20-11, 11-7) is right back in action tomorrow as they host Saint Joseph's (CT.) in a nine inning series with a scheduled start at 4pm.