Falcons Conclude Florida Trip

Fitchburg State swept by Illinois Tech, 1-0/4-0 

Winter Haven, Fla. – The Fitchburg State University baseball team dropped a pair of games to the Scarlet Hawks of Illinois Tech, 1-0/4-0 on the final day of its annual spring trip to Florida this afternoon.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 0, Illinois Tech 1 (Game One)

Score: Fitchburg State 0, Illinois Tech 4 (Game Two)

Records: Fitchburg State (5-4) | Illinois Tech (5-2) 

How It Happened

In game one, Illinois Tech took the lead in the bottom of the first as sophomore Orlando Cardenas-Juan (Salida, Calif.) singled, moved to second and third on a pair of passed balls and scored the first run of the contest on a ground out to pitcher off the bat of classmate Zachary Dickey (El Paso, Tex.) for the 1-0 margin.

Fitchburg State threatened in the top of the seventh when sophomore Brennan Cuddahy (Leominster, Mass.) drew a two-out walk, but Scarlet Hawk's hurler John Zalewski (Chicago, Ill.) induced a game-ending fly out, resulting in the 1-0 game one final.

In the night cap, Illinois Tech jumped out to a 2-0 margin, plating single runs in the third and fourth frames on sacrifice bunts from Cardenas-Juan and freshman Jacob Sorenson (Andover, Minn.). The Scarlet Hawks doubled their advantage in the top of the fifth on run scoring single from senior DJ Rybski (Chicago, Ill.) and sophomore Tyler Tucker (Beverly Hills, Mich.), resulting in the 4-0 game two final.

The Green and Gold secured the sweep in the top of the fifth when Pingitore doubled down the leftfield line to score classmate Joshua Macomber (Berkley, Mass.) , while Currie followed with a two-run triple to center, plating Pingitore and Lefebvre, resulting in the 9-0 game two final.

Inside the Numbers

In the opener, Cuddahy paced Fitchburg State's offense, going 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, while sophomores Andrew Curran (Leominster, Mass.) and Brandon Lefebvre (Leominster, Mass.) added one hit each.

For Illinois Tech, Dickey went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while Cardenas-Juan added a single and one run scored.

On the bump, senior Andrew Mooney (Framingham, Mass.) suffered the setback for the Falcons, allowing one unearned run on four hits with three punch outs in six innings of work.

Zalewski twirled a complete-game, three hit shutout for the Scarlet Hawks to pick up the win, while striking out eight.

In the second game of the double header, the Falcons were led by Curran, who hit 1-for-3 with a double, while Cuddahy and senior Sean Maki (Fitchburg, Mass.) added to the mix with one hit each.

Tucker paced the Scarlet Hawks game two offense, finishing 2-for-2 at the dish with an RBI and a walk, while Rybski added a 3-for-4 effort, including two runs scored and an RBI.

On the hill, freshman Shaun Gamelin (West Kingston, R.I.) took the loss for Fitchburg State, giving up one earned run on one hits with four K's in 3.1 innings pitched.

Sophomore Ryan Cantlin (Downers Grove, Ill.) picked up the win for Illinois Tech, allowing just three hits, while striking out two in the complete game shutout.

First ever meeting between the two schools on the baseball diamond.

Up Next

Falcons return to action on Wednesday as it travels to Dean College to take on the Bulldogs for a non-conference contest, starting at 3:30 PM.