HOLYOKE, Mass. – On a cold and rainy Tuesday night at MacKenzie Stadium, the Southern Vermont College baseball split a pair of New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) games at Elms College to keep both teams still in playoff contention.
SVC saw Elms come back from a three-run deficit in the seventh inning to win game one 7-6 in the tenth before the Mountaineers kept their season alive with an 8-3 win in the back-end of the twin-bill.
Southern Vt. moves to 15-18 overall, 8-9 in NECC play. The Blazers are now 7-10 in league play and 11-18 on the year. The two sides will meet for a third game to decide which team will go to the NECC playoffs, that rubber match's date and location still to be determined.
GAME 1: Elms 7, Southern Vt. 6 (10)
SVC pounced to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, only to see Elms respond with a pair of its own in the bottom of the inning. EC then pulled ahead with a run in the second, but the Mountaineers answered with a solo score of their own in the next box to even things once again. A three-run fifth gave Southern Vt. the 6-3 advantage that stood until the bottom of the seventh.
Elms was able to tie up the game in its final scheduled at bat with three runs before a play at the plate sent the game to extra innings. Neither team could push a run across the dish in its first two extra trips to bat until the Blazers won the front-end of the doubleheader with a walk-off sacrifice fly by senior designated hitter Sam Farnsworth (Westfield, Mass.).
Juniors Cody LaBadia (Howes Cave, N.Y.) and Roland Hernandez (Pico Rivera, Calif.) each had two hits and a pair of RBIs for SVC while junior center fielder Sal Sciara (Massapequa, N.Y.) went 2-4 with a walk and two runs scored.
EC sophomore second baseman Aedin Wadja (Lebanon, Conn.) was 3-4 at the dish with a walk and two RBIs in the win. Farnsworth finished 2-5 with a run scored and the game-winning run batted in. Freshman first baseman Jordan Zima (Berlin, Conn.) and junior third baseman Geoff Frost (Ludlow, Mass.) both went 1-3 with a walk and an RBI.
Sophomore reliever Kyle Bartlett (Huntington, Mass.) picked up the win for the Blazers to move to 2-1 on the season, throwing two scoreless innings out of the pen. Mountaineer sophomore lefty Erik Johansen (Rosendale, N.Y.) suffered the loss (0-3), giving up two runs in 3.2 innings of relief.
Sloppy conditions plagued the opener as the two sides allowed a combined five unearned runs on 10 errors, and neither side registered an extra base hit in the elongated contest.
Southern Vt. took to the board in the top of the first with a run-scoring wild pitch that was followed by Hernandez's RBI single through the left side of the infield. The Blazers came back with two of their own in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with one out. A Mountaineer fielding mishap allowed two runs to come through before a double play ended the inning.
After SVC went down in order in the second, Elms tacked on its third run with a bases-loaded hit by pitch. The Mountaineers wasted little time to even things up, working runners to the corners in the top of the third. LaBadia grounded over to first, allowing Sciara to come in with the tying run.
The 3-3 score stood until Southern Vt. grabbed three runs to go ahead in the fifth. A Blazer error preceded another LaBadia RBI on a single up the middle. Hernandez then sent one deep enough to left that made way for sophomore second baseman RJ Pingitore (Amsterdam, N.Y.) to come through with the third run of the frame.
Neither side tallied another score through the next two innings as Elms went to the plate trying to extend the game. With the bases loaded and no outs, Zima walked to bring in the first Blazer run. Johansen worked a strikeout before Wadja came through big with a two-run single to right that evened the contest.
A lead-off Blazer walk in the bottom of the tenth came back to hurt SVC as a ground-out and single up the middle moved the runner to third. Farnsworth came to the plate and sent a ball down to right field foul territory, deep enough for the winning run to tag up and beat the throw home to end the game.
GAME 2: Southern Vt. 8, Elms 3
With playoff hopes on the line in game two, the Mountaineers put up a crooked number in the top of the first with six runs on two hits, getting help from two Blazer miscues and three hit batters. Elms got itself back in the game with a three-run second, but the Mountaineers and senior southpaw Kurt Kowalczyk (Amsterdam, N.Y.) were able to keep EC off the board through the rest of the game en route to the 8-3 victory.
SVC sophomore Quinten Scott (Ashaway, R.I.) went 4-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored, and Sciara was 2-2 with two walks, a hit by pitch, two stolen bases and two runs scored. Junior shortstop Chris Nicastro Jr. (Kenilworth, N.J.) had a 1-3 showing at the plate with two walks, a run scored and another batted in.
Kowalczyk improved his season mark to 4-2 with the complete game victory, giving up the three runs in seven innings of work.
Junior center fielder Brady Forrest (Hampden, Mass.) went 2-4 with an RBI for Elms while Wadja worked two walks and scored a run. Blazer senior starting pitcher Curtis LeBeau (Auburn, Mass.) took the loss (1-4) after giving up six runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks before getting the hook in the first.
Sciara scored on a bases-loaded double play to get the scoring started in the first. SVC then used two-out magic to put up four more runs, all unearned due to a pair of Elms fielding miscues. Scott chipped in with a run-scoring double as SVC gave itself a comfortable lead, looking to preserve the season.
The Blazers got ready to have a big inning in the second, loading the pond with no outs. A pair of RBI singles preceded a sacrifice fly to right that made it a 5-3 ballgame. Kowalczyk was able to get himself out of the inning with his team still in the driver's seat, getting help from a relay put-out at third.
Southern Vt. responded with a solo run in the third when sophomore Richard Rios (Pico Rivera, Calif.) got on with a double and then scored on a Pingitore base hit up the middle. The Blazers were able to work at least one runner on base in each of their last five trips to the plate, but none of them were able to cross the dish as SVC maintained its lead. Nicastro knocked in Sciara in the fifth to add a piece of insurance before Kowalczyk finished up the win and sent the series to the decisive game three.