BENNINGTON, Vt. – A bases-loaded fielder's choice groundout brought across the eventual winning run for the visiting Elms College baseball team as the Blazers finished the series sweep with a 7-6 extra-inning win over Southern Vermont College Sunday afternoon at Bill Epstein Field in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action.
Elms improves to 9-5 in conference play, 17-14 overall, while Southern Vermont falls to 5-9 in the NECC and 11-19 overall on the season.
Blazer freshman left fielder Dan McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) went 3-6 on the day with the go-ahead RBI in the extra frame.
Southern Vermont found itself in an early deficit as Elms took to the board in the opening box. McCormack led off with a single to left and would later come around to score the first of his two runs on a single to left center by freshman third baseman Sam Farnsworth (Westfield, Mass.). The lead would not last long, however, with the Mountaineers putting up one of their own in the following half inning. With runners on first and second, SVC senior first baseman Corey Armstrong (Bennington, Vt.) hit a dribbler down to first; Armstrong beat out the return throw to first as Elms got the out at second while Mountaineer freshman second baseman rounded third and headed for home. The Blazers shot it to the dish for the play at the plate as Pingitore made an outside slide to avoid the tag. With Elms junior catcher Zach Dreher (Naugatuck, Conn.) keeping his eye on Armstrong, Pingitore look to the ump for the call, and seeing that none was made, sneaked back to touch the plate for the tying run.
The Mountaineers would chase Blazer starting freshman pitcher Andrew Sadowski (Northampton, Mass.) in the second as they put up a three spot, first with Pingitore taking a pitch that skimmed off the brim of his helmet and hit his nose with the pond full of ducks to bring in freshman third baseman Quinten Scott (Ashaway, R.I.). A sacrifice fly and ensuing Armstrong single up the middle put Southern Vermont up 4-1 after two.
Elms responded with two runs in both the third and fourth innings. With the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the third, Dreher ripped one down the left field line to plate two Blazers. The visitors then added two more in the next frame with help from a passed ball to score junior first baseman Alex King (Lebanon, Conn.) and then a first-and-third steal play that saw Blazer sophomore designated hitter Kevin Dwire (Ellington, Conn.) take off from third on the throw down to second and score for the 5-4 go-ahead run.
The Mountaineers answered immediately in the bottom of the inning. With two down and a runner on third, sophomore designated hitter Cody LaBadia (Howes Caves, N.Y.) sent one to short and legged out the single, allowing sophomore left fielder Jarod Hayen (Esperance, N.Y.) to even things at 5-5.
Relief pitching on both sides kept the score that way through the next four innings and headed into the ninth. Elms would put the pressure on the Mountaineers by using a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third with just one out. Southern Vermont senior reliever Dave Northup (Richmond, R.I.) would give up just one unearned run, however, as an SVC error allowed freshman second baseman Aedin Wadja (Lebanon, Conn.) to score. With runners at the corners, a grounder to third saw Scott come up firing to the plate to get McCormack out trying to score, and a fly out to right ended the Blazer inning.
Southern Vermont refused to go down lightly, coming back to tie it once again in the bottom of the ninth. A lead-off walk to sophomore right fielder Roland Hernandez (Pico Rivera, Calif.) would come back to hurt Elms as he advanced with two consecutive groundouts. Senior catcher Corey D. Briggs (Wood River, Calif.) then came to the plate with two down and wasted no time tying it up, taking the first pitch out to right to score Hernandez and send it to the extra frame.
A single and two Northup walks loaded them up for the Blazers who then saw McCormack with the RBI groundout for their fourth lead of the game. This one they would hold on to despite Southern Vermont threatening with a pair of runners in the bottom of the tenth. Elms senior left John Russell (Springfield, Mass.), in his fifth inning out of the pen, got Hernandez to chase a curve in the dirt for the final out and the 7-6 victory.
Russell improves to 2-3 on the hill for the Blazers with his solid appearance, allowing just one run on four hits and a walk while striking out four in 5.0 innings of work. Northup takes the loss to drop his season record to 3-4, allowing the two runs (one earned) on just four hits and two walks; he fanned three Blazer batters in the outing.
LaBadia finished 2-3 with two runs batted in on the day while D. Briggs went 3-5 with an RBI and run scored. Hayen and Armstrong went 2-5 each with Hayen scoring two runs.
Wadja went 3-4 at the plate for Elms with two runs scored, and Dreher was 1-5 with three RBIs. Dwire finished 1-4 with the stolen base and run scored.
The Mountaineers are back in action with an NECC rubber match in the series with Daniel Webster College at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday on the Eagles' home diamond while Elms turns to its Wednesday conference tilt at Lesley University to wrap up the season series; that game, slated to start at 7 p.m., was rescheduled from March 21.