Fitchburg State Drop A Pair To Greenville On Day Three

Falcons drop 2-0 decision in game one; Suffer 7-0 setback in the nightcap

AUBURNDALE, Fla. –The Fitchburg State University baseball team dropped a doubleheader to the Panthers of Greenville College Monday afternoon in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational Tournament.

Fitchburg State (1-5) has its first off day since the season began, and returns to action for a pair of games against Hamilton College on March 15^th at 9:45 a.m. Greenville (5-5) will go up against Plattsburgh State on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.

Greenville 2, Fitchburg State 0 (Game 1)

Greenville sophomore Jonah Moore stymied the Fitchburg bats to the tune of six scoreless innings en route to a 2-0 victory in the opening game.

The Panthers jumped ahead in the top half of the fourth after back-to-back two out walks put a man on second base. Sophomore Adam Lamb came up for the Panthers, hitting a RBI single to centerfield to get the scoring started on the day (1-0).

Greenville doubled its lead in the following inning as junior Shane Olmsted led off the frame, reaching first after being plunked before moving into scoring position later in the stanza. With two down, a fielding error gave Olmsted a chance to cross the plate, pushing the Panthers lead to 2-0.

Fitchburg State had its chances in the final three innings, but would wind up leaving five runners on base in that span. In the seventh, the Falcons had runners on first and second with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts closed the book on the game, resulting in the 2-0 final.

Fitchburg sophomore Noah Millard got his first start of the year, picking up the loss after allowing one earned run on three hits and three strikeouts in four innings of work, while senior Benjamin Chiasson came in for three innings of relief in his team debut for the Green and Gold.

Freshman second baseman Brendan O'Flaherty continued his hot start to the season going 2-for-3 to lead the Falcons' hitters. Andrew Mooney, Andrew Curran, and Sam Brown also added base knocks.

 Greenville 7, Fitchburg State 0 (Game 2) 

Senior right hander Phillip Reedy upped the game one performance of his teammate, logging a complete game shutout to lead Greenville to a 7-0 victory in the night cap.

Greenville jumped ahead in the bottom of the first inning as a trifecta of RBI singles from senior Mike Hardin, freshman Sam Hodges, and junior Caleb Miles gave the Panthers the early 3-0 lead. 

The Panthers got more cushion during the home-half of the fourth, with three runs scored in the frame. Hardin remerged, poking a two run triple to cap the scoring to give his team the 6-0 lead.

After holding the Falcons hitless over the next two innings, Greenville added an insurance marker when Lamb (led off inning with a double) came around to score on a RBI ground out from catcher Travis Ralls.

Fitchburg State got a couple of runners aboard in the top of the seventh, but Reedy buckled down, stranding two on base after a forced groundout secured his first win of the season in shutout fashion.

Falcon newcomer Sean Maki picked up his first multi-hit game of the year finishing 2-for-3 with a pair of singles, while senior Nathan Littman and freshman Cooper Bigelow each added one hit for Fitchburg State.

For Greenville,  Hardin and Ralls combined to go 4-for-6 with six RBI's and two walks to help fuel the offense in the victory, while Lamb ended the game 3-for-4 with three runs scored.

Release courtesy of Fitchburg State student journalist Kyle Prudhomme

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