Lancers Unable to Topple Bears, Drop Two at Home

Worcester, MA- Coming off a tight game against Bridgewater State yesterday afternoon, the Lancers were looking to claim two from the MASCAC leading Bears. The duo of games that were moved up to avoid the incoming storms on the weekend looked to create quite the battle in the second to last weekend of MASCAC action.

Senior Cole Glassburn (Hopkinton, MA) would lead off for the Lancers on the mound, with senior Alex Sorenti- Burns (Sagamore Beach, MA) behind the plate, where he allowed an opening single by Kevin Lindsey. A strike out and a fly out would follow before Lindsey managed to steal second and put himself in scoring position, which he capitalized on as Riley Thornell singled to bring Lindsey home for the lone run for the Bears in the inning as the next batter went down swinging. The Lancers looked to respond quickly to this opening score and were aided by a first pitch hit by sophomore Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA) to start the game on first base. Bridgewater's Josselyn settled in after that first strike to take down the rest of the batters and leave Smith stranded at first. Glassburn continued his success in the second with some defensive aid from senior Chris Ausiello (Tyngsboro, MA), graduate student Sean Devin (Lynn, MA), sophomore Xavier Quezada (Providence, RI) and senior Zack Roberts (Northbridge, MA). Devin would continue his aid in the bottom of the inning with a dropping single into shallow left field to get the Lancers first hit of the game. A ground out by Quezada would see him on first, but Devin returned to the dugout trying to beat the throw to second, while a following pop-out by Roberts would close out the second with the score still 1-0.

The top of the third followed a close script to the second for Glassburn, the only difference was taking the top of the order down 1-2-3 without allowing a runner on base. Josselyn met the match in the bottom of the inning shutting down the Lancers at bat to keep Worcester off the board. The game would remain 1-0 through the top of the fourth after a crisp double play between first-second back to first to grab both Bears for the outs. Glassburn would allow another hit in the top of the fifth but the threat and inning were quickly wrapped up after a failed delay steal saw Mathew Pigeon picked off trying to get to second by a perfectly based pass from Sorenti-Burns to Quezada. Quezada would continue his momentum in the bottom of the inning getting the second hit of the game for the Lancers, as the Bears were watching the Lancers too closely as Quezada was caught stealing to end their threat.

Bridgewater managed to add an additional run to their score in the 6^th, when Jay Wladkowski sent the ball deep over the fence in center field to extend their lead to 2 with one out already on the board. Glassburn would strike out the next two batters to keep the score 2-0 going into the bottom of the 6^th. Junior Tom Halliwell (Leominster, MA) and Sorenti-Burns looked to make a bottom 6^th two out rally, each securing a single to put themselves on first and second with the leading run up to bat. Sophomore Anthony Iamarone (Providence, RI) gave it a valiant effort but his line drive down second base was snagged by the shortstop who ran it out for the out to get the runner out at second base.

A third run was added for Bridgewater after a two out error on a bunt saw Pigeon score off and Emerson ended up on third base after the attempt for the out at first sailed past the baseman. Glassburn forced a line out on the next batter, but the Lancers had some major ground to cover against the speed pitching off Josselyn in the bottom of the seventh that proved to be impossible in game one.

After a brief break and reset the Lancers moved into game two behind senior Kevin Zarnoch Jr. (Boston, MA) and junior Colin Fitzgerald (Auburn, MA) called the pitches in a bid to take one of the two games in the afternoon. While Zarnoch allowed a single, he was spotless for the rest, quickly taking down the first four batters with the final out coming off a Halliwell grab of a foul tipped ball. The score would remain scoreless through the bottom of the second after some quick at bats saw each team down and up with nothing to gain. Bridgewater was able to force their first run across in the third off an error by Ausiello that resulted in the out to end the inning instead placing a runner on third and first and Suraci coming across in the scramble for the ball. While the Lancers managed to get Roberts on base with two outs in a bid to mirror the Bears, a strikeout would end their attempt to square up the score in the third. The fourth saw the game remain status quo through the Lancers threatened in the bottom of the inning with a runner on third, but Bridgewater's Kearns worked his way out of the danger to keep the score at 1-0.

While the Lancers would continue to threaten, the score would remain 1-0 through the fifth. Bridgewater would add another run to their side when Wladkowski sent his second home run of the day, and first of the game deep over the center field fence to put the Bears up 2-0. Halliwell would look to get the first run of the day for the Lancers in the bottom of the 6^th when he singled to deep center. A walk on Iamarone would see the tying runs on base for the Lancers with just a single out on the board. A second out was quickly added when Halliwell attempted to steal third but was tagged at the base, while Iamarone moved to second. A ground out to the second baseman quickly wrapped up the bottom of the inning to end the opportunity for the Lancers.

Heading into the bottom of the inning the Lancers found themselves quickly down 5-0 after a bases loaded single found three runs crossing the plate and James advancing to second on the attempt at home, before a run down between second and third found James out on the play closing out the inning. Devin stepped up to mount the comeback for the Lancers and did not disappoint as he sent a home run ball flying over the high left field fence for the first run of the game for the Lancers. That run would be the only score of the game for the Lancers as they dropped game two 5-1.

Worcester State (15-20, 9-9) return to action for the final weekend of conference play when they travel to Mass Maritime next Friday for a 9-inning battle.