MCLA Drops Pair at Worcester

Worcester, MA --- Behind a 16 hit attack, Worcester State defeated MCLA, 16-8, in game one before junior Mike Borowiec (Spencer, MA) hurled a five-hit shutout in a, 2-0, victory in the nightcap as the Lancers swept the Trailblazers this afternoon.

With the losses MCLA slips to 15-10 and 6-4 in conference play, but they remain alone in third place in the MASCAC standings.

Five different Lancers hammered home runs in the first contest. They were led by senior Matt Hart (N. Easton, MA-CF), who had two homers to give him a team-leading nine, while junior Nick Caparell (N. Attleboro, MA-RF) along with sophomore's Nick Fluegge (Ware, MA-1B), Ryan Raleigh (Cranston, RI-SS) and Johno Hinkell (North Adams, MA-C) each contributed one apiece.

The Lancers jumped on the board with a quick 2-0 lead on Fluegge's two-run homer in the bottom of the first.

MCLA answered as they took a 4-2 lead in the top of the second as sophomore Paul Procopio (Pittsfield, MA-3B) hit a two-run double and freshman Rick Massey (Pittsfield, MA-CF) drove in a pair with a long single to right.

Worcester State then exploded for 10 runs over the next two innings to take control of the game as the Lancers took advantage of miscues in the second and third innings. The scoring was highlighted by Dortona's three-run triple and Raleigh's two-run dinger in the second and Mullen's two-run homer in the third.

The Trailblazers did make the score 8-6 in the top of the third on back-to-back RBIs by Procopio and junior Ken Recore (Averill Park, MA) to make a threat, but the Lancers scoring was just too much of a deficit to overcome.

Starter Joey Lucier (Brockton, MA), allowed seven runs (four earned) off of seven hits in five innings of work. Lucier also recorded five strikeouts while he gave up a pair of walks. Freshman starter Daniel Gaines (Holyoke, MA) dropped to 2-1 with the setback for the Trailblazers.

After a scoreless top of the first in the second contest, the Lancers went up 1-0 in the opening frame when Caparell drove in Hart from second. Hart reached second with a lead-off single and moved into scoring position on a sac but.

After Worcester scored their lone run, MCLA senior starter Cyrus Curtis (Bourne, MA) retired 12 of the 18 from the first through the sixth innings. Curtis got out of a big jam, with a runner on third, in the fifth.

But the Lancers touched Curtis up in the sixth when they added a key insurance run after Fluegge crushed his second home run of the day to put WSC up 2-0.

That was all the scoring Borowiec would need as he fanned five and stranded four runners in scoring position - three who reached on doubles - in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

Curtis (4-2) was the tough luck loser as he also went the distance. In addition to the two runs off of five hits, Curtis allowed two walks while he struck out three.

The Trailblazers were paced on the afternoon by Procopio who went 3-for-7 with three RBIs while senior Steve Sullivan (Wareham, MA-LF) went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and a plated run in the second game.

Both teams will play conference double-headers on Monday. Worcester State will travel to Framingham State for a noontime start while MCLA will entertain Bridgewater State in a key series at 1 PM.