Fitchburg State Sweeps MCLA, 6-2/4-3

Drury paces Falcons victories with five hits and three RBI

FITCHBURG, Mass. (April 19, 2014) – The Fitchburg State baseball team collected it first MASCAC series sweep in nearly three years as it used a pair of comebacks wins to defeat MCLA at Williams College.  The Falcons scored four times in the top of the seventh of game one to earn a 6-2 victory before rallying with three runs in the sixth of game two to top MCLA 4-3.  

With the sweep, the Falcons are now 19-12 overall and 4-6 in MASCAC play.  MCLA drops to 3-18 overall and sits at 1-9 in conference play.

In the opener, MCLA jumped out to a quick 2-0 advantage as Jared Gersch came around to score on a wild pitch after he was walked, and Rory Slattery drove home Chase Preite with a single up the middle off Falcon starter Kyle Cutler (Clinton, Mass.). From there though, MCLA's bats would be silenced by both Cutler and reliever Ryan Magni.(West Springfield, Mass.)

Cutler tossed the second inning and came out for the third but was relieved by Magni when he walked Mike Sullivan to begin the frame. Magni immediately came on an induced a double play and a groundout to set the tone.  The junior would not allow Trailblazer hit the rest of the way.

With Magni shutting down the Trailblazers, the Falcons went to work on the offensive end.  the tied the game with a pair of runs in the fifth inning as Clayton Beaulieu (Chicopee, Mass.) walked and Steven Drury (Ashburnham, Mass.) singled to begin the inning. David Mason's (Leominster, Mass.) sacrifice bunt moved them up in to scoring position.  A walk to Pierce Hans (Washington Township, N.J.) loaded the bases.

Beaulieu would score on a wild pitch as all runners moved up.  Joe Lyons (W. Roxbury, Mass.) then plated the tying run with a groundout scoring Drury.  The game would remain tied at 2 until the seventh when the Falcons busted the game open.

Drury started the rally with a single and Mason followed with a hit and run single putting runners at the corners with nobody out.  Hans would belt a double to center plating Drury and placing runners at second and third.  Lyons would then lift a fly ball to center that was misplayed into a double scoring both runs.  Lyons would eventually score the fourth run of the inning on a sacrifice fly from Brendan Cutler (Clinton, Mass.)

Magni earned the win tossing the final five innings striking out four Trailblazers. Mike Mancivalano was tagged with the loss going six innings and allowing all six runs.  He struck out a pair.

The top of the Fitchburg order (Drury, Mason, Hans) all had two hits. Lyons would finish with three RBI, while Javier Lozada (New Bedford, Mass.) and Cutler each had two safeties as well.  The Falcons outhit MCLA 12-4 in the opener.

Similar to game one, the Trailblazers jumped out to a 2-0 edge after one inning of game two. Mike Sullivan walked to begin the game and Nate Alibozek followed with a single.  Preite's double to center field scored both, however he was cut down at third trying to stretch into a triple minimizing the damage.

Fitchburg would chip away off MCLA starter Robert Jutras plating a single run in the third inning.  Drury was once again the catalyst as he hit a one out triple.  Mason and Hans followed with walks to load the bases.  Lyons would lift a sacrifice fly to score Drury, but Jutras got Lozada to pop out to second to end the inning.

MCLA would add a run in the fifth as Alon Willing reached second base on an infield miscue.  He advanced to third on Sullivan's single and came around to score on fielders choice from Alibozek making it 3-1 in favor of MCLA.

Fitchburg would mount their final rally in the sixth.  With one out, Cutler was hit by a pitch and Derrick Frazier (Beverly, Mass.) walked.  Jutras induced a flyout to left field bringing up Beaulieu.  He would reach on an infield miscue loading the bases for Drury. The freshman outfielder then ripped a bases clearing triple to deep right field scoring all three runners giving the Falcons a 4-3 lead.  

Joe St. Hilaire (Chelmsford, Mass.) started for Fitchburg and allowed 8 hits and three runs in 4.1 innings of work.  Tyler Smith (New Milford, Conn.) would earn the win out of the bullpen tossing 1.2 perfect innings.  Magni, who earned the game one win, came on to throw a 1-2-3 seventh to earn his second save.

The Falcons had only four hits in game two as Drury had three of them. MCLA was paced by Preite's two hits and two RBI.  

Fitchburg State will be back in action on Monday as it hosts Bridgewater State University a in a key MASCAC doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.