Curry Answers Fitchburg State, 9-8 (11 inn)

Rivera finishes 4-for-6 with three singles and homerun in non-conference battle

MILTON, Mass. (March 29, 2012) – The Fitchburg State baseball team suffered an 11 inning, 9-8 setback to Curry College in non-conference action at D. Forbes Will Field this afternoon.

After an exciting ten innings of play, Curry plated a single run in the bottom of the 11th inning, using an RBI hit from junior Matt Rodriguez (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) to drive home senior Carlos Cornejo (Lake Forest, Calif./Mater Dei) who led off the inning with a double to left-center.

Fighting from five runs down after one inning of play, Fitchburg State bounced back into the contest, scoring runs in the third, fifth, seventh and eighth innings to grab its first lead of the contest at 6-5. Junior Chris Rivera (New Britain, Conn./New Britain) sparked the Falcons third inning rally with his first homerun in a Fitchburg State uniform, while also adding a pair of RBI hits in the fifth and eighth frame.

Curry answered Fitchburg State's comeback with a single run in the bottom of the eighth stanza, forcing extra innings after a scoreless ninth.

Both teams came out firing in the extra frames, as Fitchburg State notched a pair of runs in the top half of the inning and Curry responded with two runs in the bottom half. Senior David Stevens' (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Coral Glades) double in the eighth proved to be the game-tying hit for Curry, while his double in the tenth also save the day for the Colonels.

Freshman Thomas Fitzpatrick (South Boston, Mass./Archbishop Williams) shut down the Falcons in the top of the 11th setting the stage for Rodriguez's game-winning hit. Fitzpatrick earned the victory for Colonels, tossing three innings of relief with just two runs allowed (one earned) on five hits and one K. Junior Zach Bombria (Bolton, Conn./Bolton) suffered the loss for Fitchburg State, yielding three earned runs over 2.1 IP.

Junior Dylan Smith (New London, Conn./New London) threw strong in relief for the Falcons as well, going 7.1 IP with seven scattered hits and just one run allowed. Smith struck out six in his relief effort, while not walking a batter.

On the offensive end, Rivera put forth a solid day, hitting 4-for-6 with three singles, a homerun, three runs scored and four RBI, while junior Jeff Boice (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) finished with a pair of doubles. Classmate Matt Zajac (New Hartford, Conn./St. Paul Catholic) and sophomore David Mason (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) also added a pair of hits each for the Falcons.

Fitchburg State (3-12, 0-0 MASCAC) returns to action Saturday as it hosts Salem State University at 1 p.m. Curry (6-10, 3-1 TCCC) will visit Castleton State on Saturday at 2 p.m.