Falcons Clipped By Lyons, 9-4

Northborough, Mass. - The Fitchburg State University baseball team fell 9-4 to the Lyons of Wheaton College this afternoon in non-conference action from the New England Baseball Complex.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 4, Wheaton 9

Records: Fitchburg State (0-2) I Wheaton (1-0)

How It Happened

Wheaton grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning as senior Bryan Salkind (Rochester, Mass.) singled in classmate Nick Raposo (Johnson, R.I.), while sophomore Zach DeMattio (North Attleboro, Mass.) laced a two-run double to left center that scored Salkind and sophomore Jacob Studley (Barrington, R.I.).

Fitchburg State knotted the score at 3-3 in the top half of the second frame when sophomore Vincent Eramo (Shirley, Mass.) and senior Matthew Pingitore (Rutland, Mass.) reached on back-to-back singles before senior Joshua Macomver (Berkley, Mass.) blasted a three-run homer over the left center field fence.

The Lyons regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth with junior Patrick Santorella (Scituate, Mass.) ripping a double into the left center field gap to bring in DeMattia and sophomore Stephen Quigley (Halifax, Mass.) added an sacrifice bunt to make the score 6-3.

Wheaton upped its margin in the following stanza as DeMattia notched an RBI ground out to plate Studley, while newcomer Nick Croteau (Cumberland, R.I.) brought in Salkind with sac fly to right for the 8-3 edge.

The Green and Gold cut the deficit to 8-4 in the top of the seventh when Pingitore was hit by a pitch, moved to second and third on a walk by junior Emanuel Giumarra (South Salem, N.Y.) and a hit from senior Brandon Lefebvre (Leominster, Mass.) before junior Nicholas Cordeau (Melrose, Mass.) collected an RBI fielder's choice that scored Pingitore.

The Lyons would tack on an insurance run in the bottom half of the seventh as Ashley tripled to right center and came around to score on an infield single off the bat of Raposa, resulting in the 9-4 final.

By The Numbers

• Second meeting between the two teams with the Falcons 0-2 vs the Lyons
• Macomber led the way for the Falcons, going 1-for-3 with a home run, one run scored and three RBI
• Pingiore went 1-for-3 with two runs scored
• Raposa finished 3-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI
• Salkind chipped in with two hits, two runs scored and one RBI
• Freshman Joseph Powers (Leominster, Mass.) took the loss for the Fitchburg State, allowing five runs (4 earned) on three hits with one K in two innings of work
• Junior Grace Reily (Bridgewater, Mass.) picked up the win for Wheaton, yielding three earned runs on four hits with eight strikeouts over six innings pitched

Up Next

Falcons will travel to Dean College on Thursday to take on the Bulldogs for a non-conference tilt, starting at 3:00 PM. Lyons will take on Aurora College on Friday to open their annual spring trip to Florida for a contest starting at 6:30 PM.