Article Courtesy: Matt Tittle, Becker SID
WORCESTER, Mass. – A late rally by the Southern Vermont College baseball team was not enough as it fell 8-7 in the regular season finale against NECC foe the Hawks of Becker College Sunday afternoon.
Becker got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Keith Kandel drove the first pitch he saw over the leftfield fence for a two run homerun. The homerun was Kandel’s first collegiate long ball. The Hawks made the score 3-0 when Austin Phillips scored from third base on a wild pitch. With two runners on and two outs senior L.J. Blomgren singled through the left side of the infield, scoring Weston Meehan from second base. Becker capped off their five run inning when Eric Lajoie scored on a throwing error by the Mountaineers third baseman.
Southern Vermont scored two unearned runs in the top of the fourth when Becker second baseman Austin Phillips misjudged a pop fly with two outs, allowing Corey Briggs and Dan Cook to score.
After Keith Kandel led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple to right field, Austin Phillips redeemed himself when he drove 1-0 pitch into the left centerfield gap for an RBI double.
Southern Vermont chased Becker starting pitcher Jheremy Brown from the game in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs and one on base, Dan Cook smacked a two run homerun over the right centerfield wall, cutting the Hawks lead to 6-4. Corey Briggs and Keith Diotte hit back to back doubles, bringing the Mountaineers within one.
Becker pushed another run across another run in the bottom of the fifth inning. L.J.
Blomgren led off the inning with a walk. After pinch runner Donnie Ballsieper stole second base, Ben Keough moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt. Senior Ryan Sczerbinski finished the job by hitting a sacrifice fly to leftfield, making the score 7-5.
Becker scored the eventual game winner in the bottom of the sixth inning when Eric Lajoie drove in Weston Meehan from second base with a single to centerfield.
Freshman Mike Schoen earned the victory for the Hawks after pitching four and one-third innings, allowing one earned run one on one hit. With the win the Hawks improved to 13-16 overall and 9-6 in the New England Collegiate Conference. Becker earned the third seed in the upcoming NECC tournament and will face the second seeded Mitchell College Mariners on Friday afternoon.
Ben Naaktgeboren took the lost after pitching five and two-thirds innings, allowing seven earned runs on 12 hits. With the loss the Mountaineers fell to 12-20 overall and 6-9 in the New England Collegiate Conference. Southern Vermont has earned the fourth seed in the conference tournament and will play the top seeded Eagles from Daniel Webster on Friday.