Dukes losing streak
extended to six with extra innings loss
By: Michael Radomski
(PITTSFIELD, Mass)- The
Pittsfield Dukes and Holyoke Blue Sox needed 11 innings to provide a
winner as Shevis Shima's ( Cal St Fullerton) RBI single in the 11th
inning gave Holyoke the 5-4 victory.
Starters Louie Bernardini (Wheaton College) and Jared Balbach
(Sacred Heart) kept both teams scoreless until the 3rd inning when
Blue Sox catcher Sean Killeen (Trinity College) hit a leadoff home
run to deep center field for the 1-0 lead.
The Dukes would answer in the bottom of the third inning when Jake
Rosenbeck (Buffalo) reached on an error by third baseman Jeremy
Nowak (Stony Brook) that scored Craig Hertler (San Jose State) to
tie the ballgame at one apiece. The run ended a sixteen inning
scoring drought for Pittsfield that spanned across three games. The
bats continued in the 4th when the Dukes would add two runs as the
Blue Sox would commit two runs in the inning.
Louie Bernardini pitched well through the first four innings but
allowed another run in the 5th inning Alex Wyche (Alexander Baldwin
Agricultural College) had an RBI groundout to first to close the gap
to 3-2. Matt Adams (Slippery Rock) made a sliding stop to his left
then hustled and slide into first for the out as the run scored.
Jake Sabol (Central Michigan) relieved Bernardini in the sixth
inning and ran into trouble as Craig Turner (Southern Wesleyan) hit
an two run single to right scoring two runs and giving Holyoke the
4-3 lead.
The Dukes rallied quickly in the bottom half off reliever Charles
Williams (Lipscomb University) and tied up the game. A sacrifice fly
from Hertler to right field scored pinch hitter Chris Edmondson from
third and it would hold as the last score until the team teams
entered extra innings.
Both teams did have opportunities to score over the final few
frames. Holyoke had two runners caught stealing in the top of the
tenth inning and Pittsfield left runners on first and third as J.T.
Musso (BYU) struck out looking on the outside corner to end the 10th
as well.
In the eleventh inning, a one out error from Jake Rosenbeck on a
throw to first allowed Sean Killeen to reach. Then, on a pickoff
attempt to first, the ball got away, enabling Killeen to make it to
second with one out. Reliever Zach Anderson (Buffalo) in his first
inning of work, then struck out Alex Wyche and walked Jeremy Nowak.
With first and second and two outs, Shevis Shima came through in the
clutch producing a bloop RBI single to left field scoring Killeen to
give Holyoke the 5-4 lead.
Holyoke kept James White (UNC Greensboro) in for the eleventh and he
sent down the Dukes 1-2-3 concluding with a strikeout of Jake
Rosenbeck to end the game.
Following the strikeout, a few players starting arguing with the
Blue Sox reliever as both dugouts would empty onto the field. No
punches were thrown as players left the field a few moments later.
With the win, Holyoke has won its last three games and improves to
6-6 while Pittsfield drops to 5-7 with their sixth straight loss.
Holyoke plays again tomorrow night as they host Team China with Rob
Gariano (Fairfield) as the probable starter. The Dukes will have
both Monday and Tuesday off before hosting North Shore on Wednesday
with Kyle Vazquez (Franklin Pierce) on the hill.
