Baseball Falls to MASCAC Leader Salem State 2-1 and 5-3
Salem, Mass. – The Framingham State University baseball team dropped both ends of a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) doubleheader against Salem State University this afternoon. The Vikings took the opener 2-1 before taking the nightcap by a score of 5-3.
With the pair of wins, the Vikings are now 18-16-1 on the year and sit alone atop the MASCAC standings at 11-1 in the conference. The Rams fall to 10-23 overall and are now 5-7 in the conference.
Joe White (Bellingham, Mass.) paced the Vikings with four RBI in the two games.
In the opener, Salem State's Matt Abrain (Northbridge, Mass.) retired the first 12 batters he faced including five via the strikeout. The Viking offense gave Abrain a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Joe White (Bellingham, Mass.), who had four RBI on the day, drove in Richard Fecteau (Newbury, Mass.) who had reached on an error.
Freshman Kyle Dembrowski (Natick, Mass.) broke up Abrain's no-hitter in the fifth inning with a bloop single that dropped in front of centerfielder Andrew Deloury (Peabody, MA). However, Abrain escaped the inning unharmed as he recorded strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
In the sixth, the Rams finally reached the scoreboard tying the game as senior Jon Chapman (Waltham, Mass.) hit a long sacrifice fly to right field that brought in classmate RJ Gray (Lowell, Mass.).
In the bottom half of the inning, Salem State regained the lead with a sacrifice fly of their own from Alex Toomey (Beverly, Mass.) that scored Jose Cedano (Lawrence, Mass.).
Abrain (1-2) earned the win and flirted with a no-hitter through five innings, striking out eight batters while allowing only three hits. Junior Manny Powers (Malden, Mass.) also went the full game for the Rams as he allowed three hits and no earned runs despite Salem State crossing the plate twice.
In the second game, the Vikings jumped on Framingham State starter Zack Kirby (Rochester, Mass.) early as White scored Davis with a double off the left field wall in the first and two batters later Cedano drove in White with an RBI-single to center that put Salem State up 2-0.
The Vikings added to their lead in the third inning when White brought in two more runs with another double down the left field line that scored Davis and Fecteau for a 4-0 advantage.
After a scoreless fourth, Salem State bumped their lead to 5-0 when Cedano hit an RBI-single that brought White across the plate.
The Rams got the bats going in the sixth when they knocked back-to-back singles off Salem State's Mike Richardson (Belmont, Mass.) to lead off the inning. Powers drove in their first run of game two with an RBI-fielder's choice that scored Ryan Connelly (West Roxbury, Mass.). Powers did however reach base due to a fielding error. Framingham State wasn't done scoring in the sixth as Ryan Wardwell (Hudson, Mass.) drove in two runs with a double that cut the Vikings' advantage to 5-3.
Despite the Rams late efforts, Salem State closer Pete Gonski (East Lyme, Conn.) retired the final five batters to secure the 5-3 victory.
Richardson (3-2) earned the win as he went 5.1 innings while striking out four Rams. Gonski finished the final 1.2 innings allowing no hits with one walk. Kirby (2-5) went the distance for Framingham State as he surrendered five runs, four earned, on eight hits.
The Rams are back in action tomorrow night with a non-conference game at Lasell at 7 p.m.
Release courtesy of SSU Sports Information