Worcester, MA- A match two years in the making, the Worcester State Baseball team (11-4, 3-0) journey's to Wheaton College to face off with the Lyons. The teams were initially to meet both last season and earlier this year but weather has played a factor in moving this nine-inning action to Wheaton today.
Final
Worcester State: 7
Wheaton: 5
How it Happened:
The Lancers would start off firing on all cylinders against Wheaton getting on base first through 4 balls against first year Christopher Mondesir (Roslindale, MA) and shortly after would advance to third through a great hit by senior Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA). Senior Anthony Iamarone (Providence, RI) would ground one out to third base to bring in Mondesir for the first run of the game. Following that play, first year Riggs Catlin (Dedham, MA) would rally the Lancers by getting off a clean hit for a single to left field bringing home two more runners. Junior Joe Auger (Lowell, MA) would hit a double to center field to tack on another score making it 4-0 by the bottom of the first. Offensively Wheaton would get off to a quick start as well through a homerun by Lamond to cut the score to three for the Lyons. The first inning would finish 4-1 with a lot left to play for both teams.
Starting the second inning sophomore Ryan Jewett (Natick, MA) would get on base through a single, dropping to center field. After that we would see the first pitching change of the game for Wheaton uplifting Yakavonis to the mound. With a new pitcher would come starker defensive pressure from the Lyons, who would keep the Lancers scoreless at the top of the second. Senior pitcher Danny DiMassimo (Pittsfield, MA) would make quick work of the Lyons batters achieving three quick outs for Worcester. After the pitching change, Wheaton would look more defensively sound, keeping the Lancers off the scoreboard during the top of the third. DiMassimo would continue his momentum keeping the Lyons off the scoreboard in the bottom of the third ensuring the Lancers would hold their three run lead heading into the top of the fourth.
In the fourth the Lancers would quickly see three batters get on base with zero outs applying pressure to the Lyons. Jewett would proceed to hit one off past the third baseman to drive in another run for the Lancers. Ultimately the Lyons would find three outs getting out of a sticky situation with minimum damage inflicted. The bottom of the fourth would find some offensive momentum for the Lyons as they would get three runners on base sequentially and force a Worcester pitching change as senior Mike Bean (Tampa, FL) would step to the mound. The Lyons would gain some ground on the Lancers forcing three scores in the inning placing them only one run behind with much of the game to play.
After a scoreless fifth inning from both teams we would again see runs added to the board from the Lancers as Jewett would hit an RBI single tacking on another run. After the play we would see an additional pitching change for the Lyons in the hope of slowing down the Lancer's offense. At the top of the seventh the Lancers would see another run scored off of senior Xavier Quezada's (Providence, RI) bat hitting an RBI single to center field putting the score to 7-4. The Lancer's would run into some trouble in the bottom of the 9th as the bases would become loaded with no outs recorded and the Lyons would score one run due to a wild pitch but ultimately first year pitcher Matthew Direnzo (Leicester, MA) would find the needed third out to ice the game for the Lancer's and claim the long awaited victory.
What's Next:
Worcester State (12-4, 3-0) has a day without action before they remain at home to face Westfield State in double header action on Friday. Due to weather the weekend series has been swapped around and Westfield will be the designated home game for the meeting with the first game set for 2pm.