Long Ball Leads Baseball to Sweep of Concordia (Wis.)

Tucson, AZ – Senior Cameron Borrelli (Peabody, Mass.) hit two of the Rams four homeruns on the day and drove in six runs as the Framingham State University baseball team swept Concordia (Wis.) today 10-0 and 7-4 in a non-conference doubleheader at the Tucson Invitational Games.

With the wins, the Rams are now 4-3 on the year, while the Falcons move to 3-4.

In the opener, Borrelli paced the Rams offense going two-for-four in the game with two homeruns, five RBI and two runs scored, while junior Jordan Pallazola (Rockport, Mass.) and senior Kyle Pileski (Bristol, Conn.) picked up two hits apiece.

Senior Chris Riga (Westfield, Mass.) earned the complete game victory in game one.  Riga went seven innings and allowed no runs on six hits with 14 strikeouts and three walks. Riga worked out a pair of jams in the top of the third and fourth innings to keep the game scoreless.

Concordia had runners on second and third in the third after back-to-back singles and a double steal with one out, but Riga got back-to-back strikeouts looking to end the inning.

In the fourth, Concordia opened the frame with a pair of singles, but Riga retired the next three including one via strikeout to end the inning.

The Rams got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with four runs.  Pileski led off the inning with a single and moved to third on a double to deep center by Matt Fogarty (Millis, Mass.).  After an out, Pileksi scored from third on a passed ball.  Sophomore Anthony Venuti (Braintree, Mass.) walked and Borrelli followed with a three run homer to deep right for the 4-0 lead.

The Rams would tack on six more in the bottom of the sixth inning including a bases clearing double down the left field line from Pallazola and an RBI single from Venuti.  Borrelli capped off the inning with his second homerun of the game, this one a two run shot to right.

In game two, the Rams jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings.  In the top of the first, the Rams had first and third with two outs and junior Aaron Williams (Brockton, Mass.) stole home on the back end of a double steal.  Borrelli followed with an RBI single to right putting the Rams ahead 2-0.

Junior Kyle Dembrowski (Natick, Mass.) led off the bottom of the second with a solo homer to left center.  Fogarty plated the second run of the frame on a sacrifice fly to right.  Pallazola followed with a two run homerun to left and the Rams took advantage of a Falcon error to score their final run of the inning.

Concordia chipped away at the lead with a pair of runs in the third and single runs in the fourth and fifth, but did not score over the final two innings.

Junior Kevin Connelly (Bolton, Mass.) earned the win in game two going five innings and allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks.  Junior Alex Erwin (Tewksbury, Mass.) tossed an inning of scoreless relief and did not allow a hit, while classmate Blake Waters (East Sandwich, Mass.) earned the save tossing a scoreless ninth.

The Rams are back in action tomorrow when the face Dubuque at 6 p.m. EDT.