Baseball Opens Season with Loss to Nichols

Northboro, Mass. – The Framingham State University baseball team opened the 2017 season this afternoon  with a 9-1 loss to Nichols College in non-conference action at the New England Baseball Complex.

With the win, Bison are now 1-0, while the Rams are 0-1.

The Bison received five scoreless innings from starting pitcher Adam Rigney (Niantic, Conn.) as he earned the victory.  Rigney scatter three hits with eight strikeouts and four walks while working out of a pair of innings where the Rams had runners in scoring position.

Framingham State starter Kyle Hidgson (Berkley, Mass.) was solid in his first outing of the year going six and two thirds while allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits with four strikeouts.

Nichols took the lead in the top of the third on an RBI single from Cam Cook (Phoenixville, Pa.) that drove in Christian Naccari who doubled earlier in the inning.

The Bison added two more in the top of the seventh after loading the bases with no outs.  Cook drove in a run with his second run scoring single of the game, while Matt Hardy (North Attleboro, Mass.) drove in the second on a fielder's choice.

The Rams got on the board in the bottom of the seventh inning.  Sophomore Kyle Lippert (Carlsbad, Calif.) reached on an error and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch for the Rams only run of the game.

The Bison tacked on a single run in the eighth and five in the ninth to reach the final margin.

The Rams are back in action Tuesday afternoon back at the NEBC when they entertain Plymouth State at 4 p.m., while the Bison face Wheaton College tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Clark University.