MCLA Drops Extra Inning Affair

The MCLA baseball team was defeated by the Southern Vermont Mountaineers 8-7 Wednesday night at Epstein Field. SVC’s hot bats knocked 15 hits on the day. Brothers Adam and Dave Northup each hit RBI singles in the bottom of the tenth inning to score the tying and winning runs. Freshman right fielder Joel DeFedele was clutch at the plate with the bases loaded tallying four RBI’s.

The Mountaineers (8-11) jumped ahead early with two runs in the first inning on a DeFedele single that drove in sophomore Eric Wells and senior Brett Pawlak to make it 2-0. The Trailblazers took the lead in the second inning taking advantage of Mountaineer mishaps with singles from sophomore Vince Bordino (New Paltz, NY)  and junior John Ripepi (Amsterdam, NY) to make it 3-2.

In the third inning MCLA tacked on another run on a solo shot to right field by sophomore Eddie George (Falls Church, VA), his first home run of the year. The Mountaineers responded in the bottom of the fourth with another two RBI single with the bases loaded by DeFedele to tie it up at 4-4.

The Mountaineers scored two more in the closing innings on solo homers from sophomore Pat Warrington and junior Dan Cook. MCLA kept up with SVC and the score was tied at 6-6 after nine innings sending the game to extra innings.

MCLA scored in the tenth inning when a dropped fly ball turned into sophomore Rick Massey (Cheshire, MA) getting to third base and later scoring on another Mountaineer error to make it 7-6.

In the bottom of the tenth a single by Warrington and a walk by Wells gave Southern Vermont the tying and winning run on base. Junior Adam Northup came up to the plate and knocked an RBI single that scored Warrington and advanced Wells to second. The next batter freshman Dave Northup then relinquished himself for a defensive mishap in the top of the inning when his crushed an RBI single to right field to give the Mountaineers the 8-7 victory.

Starter sophomore Will Warner pitched six and two-thirds only allowing two earned runs (five runs total) but Wells (1-1) got the win on a solid three innings of pitching. Sophomore Trailblazer Sean Hermance (Elizaville, NY) took the loss on the hill to drop to 3-3 overall.

Warrington went 4-for-6 with an RBI, while Pawlak, Wells, DeFedele, and freshman Max Ginter each had two hits to round out the box for the Mountaineers.

Ripepi finished 3-for-6 with two RBI’s at the leadoff spot for MCLA. Juniors Paul Procopio (Pittsfield, MA) and Joe Parillo (West Springfield, MA) each chipped in two hits as the Trailblazers lost to Southern Vermont for the first time since the two institutions starting playing each other in the 1980’s.

The Mountaineers are back in action on Friday, April 16th, when it hosts non-conference foe Maine Presque-Isle at 3:00 p.m.  The Trailblazers are back in MASCAC play Saturday at Fitchburg State starting at 12:00 PM.