Bats Power UMass Dartmouth Past Baseball

Northborough, Mass. – Sophomore Evan Kantardzic (Canton, Mass.) drove in six runs to lead the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth baseball team over the Framingham State University Rams 20-9 in non-conference action this afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex.     

With the win, the Corsairs move to 5-4 on the year, while the Rams dip to 2-4.

The Rams grabbed their only lead of the day in the bottom of the first as they plated a pair of runs on a two RBI double to center by senior RJ Gray (Lowell, Mass.)

UMass Dartmouth cut the lead in half on an RBI bases loaded fielder's choice by freshman DeVon King (Carver, Mass.) in the top of the second and took the lead for good in the top of third on a two run homer by Erick Ramirez (Boston, Mass.).

The Corsairs batted around in the top of the fourth scoring six runs to take a 9-2 lead.  Ryan Ainslie (Weymouth, Mass.) scored on a wild pitch and Kantardzic belted a two run homerun.  A bases loaded walk to Kenneth Michael (Norwood, Mass.) and two run Ainslie single accounted for the final two runs of the inning.

The Rams answered in the bottom of the inning with five runs of their own as they also batted around to cut the deficit to 9-7.  Junior Manny Powers (Malden, Mass.) led of the inning with a solo homerun to left. Freshman Aaron Rios (Stratford, Conn.) plated the second run on a deep sacrifice fly to center and sophomore Kyle Pileski (Bristol, Conn.) followed with a two run double to left.

UMass Dartmouth balloon the lead to 16-7 with seven runs in the top of the sixth inning including a grand slam from Kantardzic.

Pileski launched a solo homerun in the bottom of the seventh for the Rams and freshman Matthew Medeiros (Seekonk, Mass.) laced an RBI single in his first collegiate at bat in the ninth to account for the final Rams runs.

The Corsairs tacked on one in the eighth on a sacrifice fly and three more in the ninth on a three run shot from Jose Vasquez (Roxbury, Mass.).

Senior Dillon Corliss (Winterport, ME) took the loss for the Rams going five innings and allowing nine runs, four earned, on six hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.  David Tarr (Easton, Mass.) earned the win in relief for the Corsairs tossing 2.2 innings and allowing one earned run on four hits with a walk and six strikeouts.

The Rams are back in action tomorrow when they travel to Roger Williams at 3:30 p.m., while the Corsairs host Johnson & Wales on Friday at 3:30 p.m.