By Connor Blake, Staff Writer
Junior general management major Ben Lambert led the way with seven strikeouts in seven innings pitched in the Huskies win over the Beacons. Allowing two hits as the 3rd/4th place USM Huskies took down the visiting University of Massachusetts Boston Beacons 8-3 in Little East Conference play on a chilly and windy Tuesday afternoon at Ed Flaherty Field.
The Huskies plated the first run of the game in the second inning, starting with a leadoff walk to junior athletic training major Dylan Hapworth. Then senior liberal studies major Devin Warren hit a single to bring Hapworth around to third base, for senior Zach Quintal to drive in the run with a RBI groundout to make it 1-0 Huskies.
The scoring in the second was foreshadowing what the Huskies would do in the fourth and fifth innings of the game. In the fourth, Warren started what would be a three-run inning with a double, and then was moved over to third with a Quintal single. Quintal was then moved to second with a groundout. Later both Quintal and Warren came around to score two very quick runs for the Huskies after a wild pitch, and a wild throw back to the pitcher. The Huskies weren’t done scoring as junior sports management major Andrew Olszak came to the plate with a man on base, and hit a triple to right field to bring in the third run of the inning.
The Huskies offense kept rolling in the fifth, starting with Warren coming to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out. The Beacons thought that by changing pitchers in this situation would improve their chances against the surging Huskies, and it did, for one out. What followed next was a wild pitch to bring in a run, senior health science major Jack Sylvia was hit by a pitch to bring in a second run and finally senior exercise science major Kip Richard hit an RBI single to make it a 7-0 lead for the Huskies.
The bats cooled off after the fifth as they only tacked on one more run in the bottom of the eight with a sacrifice fly from senior liberal studies major Jake Dexter making it 8-0 Huskies going into the last inning.
The Beacons showed some fight at the end, battling back to put up three runs of their own off of junior sports management major and reliever Colton Lawrence. Senior Charlie Huegi plated the first run with a fielder’s choice, and classmate Nate Herzog drove in two with a triple that ended his time on the mound. However, The Beacons light was put out when Dexter came in to get the final two outs.
This win was the fourth straight for the Huskies, and improved their record to 20-4 overall and 9-2 in conference play. This win also gives Lambert his fifth win on the season, remaining undefeated with an astonishing earned runs average of 0.67. Other notable players from the game were junior general management major Andrew Hillier and Warren, who both had two doubles for the Huskies.
The Huskies only have twelve games left in their season following the win, and currently stand only 57 points behind the first place team in Division III Baseball, Concordia-Chicago.
Looking ahead the huskies have a few notable opponents, Bates College on April 24, Bowdoin College on April 30, and Tufts University to close out the regular season on May 5.