Dukes blow late lead and
fall in extra innings
By: Michael Radomski
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.)- In a
pitchers duel at Wahconah Park, the Mainers tied the game late and
scored two more in the tenth inning to prevail 4-2.
In the top of the first inning, the Mainers would score first off of
Dukes starter Alex MacKenzie (Canisius) with an RBI groundout from
Kyle Groth (Cornell) for the early 1-0 lead.
Jason Bowman (West Chester University) would go toe to toe with
MacKenzie as both pitchers would enter occasional jams and escape
unscathed.
In the bottom of the seventh, with Sanford still leading 1-0 lead,
the Dukes mounted their comeback. Leadoff hitter Crag Hertler (San
Jose State) drew a walk, followed by a single from J.T. Musso (BYU)
that would chase the Mainer starter from the game. Jeff Decarlo
(University of Michigan) entered the game and yielded an RBI single
to Chris Edmondson (Le Moyne) to tie up the ballgame. On the same
play, Musso was thrown out 7-5-6-7 trying to advance to third for
the first out of the inning.
Later on in the frame, Edmondson would score on a wild pitch and
give Pittsfield the 2-1 lead, but the lead was short lived.
In the top of the eight inning, the Mainers were able to tie it up
against MacKenzie. The Canisius student athlete allowed a leadoff
walk to A.J. Cesario (Maryland). A wild pitch later and Scott
Ferrarra (St. John's University) hit an RBI single to tie it up.
MacKenzie would get out of further trouble, finishing with eight
innings pitched, allowing just two runs on seven hits.
Pittsfield went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eight inning, and Sanford
would rally in the top of the ninth against reliever Zach Anderson
(Buffalo). Anderson pitched two innings last night in the Dukes 8-4
loss at Lowell, and was called to shut down the Mainers in the
ninth.
With the bases loaded and one out, Anderson induced Cesario to fly
out to Edmondson in shallow left field, and got Ferrarra looking at
strike three to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Dukes would again go down in order
as reliever Nick Cenatiempo (St. John's University) continued to
shut down Pittsfield.
The Mainers took control against Luke Mazzanti (San Jose State)
tagging him for two runs in the frame. Mark Micowski (University of
Vermont) led off with a single, followed by a bunt base hit from
Matt Nandin (Le Moyne) set up first and second with no outs.
Kevin Reimer (Canisius) dropped down the sacrifice bunt moving up
the runners and Kyle Groth would follow with the two run double to
deep center field to take the 4-2 lead. Groth finished 3 for 5 with
3 runs batted in.
Cenatiempo stayed in for his third inning of work, retiring the
side, and all 8 hitters that he faced in order to preserve the
Mainers' third straight win, 4-2.
With the loss, the Dukes have now lost 5 of their last 6 games and
drop to 5-5 on the season while the Mainers move above .500 with the
victory.
Tomorrow, Pittsfield will travel up to Vermont to play the
Mountaineers in a 6:30 contest with Michael Ness (Duke) as the
probable starter. Sanford will travel back home tonight and host
Manchester tomorrow evening at the same time with Pat Lehman (George
Washington) as the scheduled pitcher.
