Trailblazers Lose to Cross Town Rival Ephs

North Adams, MA – The Trailblazers dropped a 15-7 decision to cross town rival Williams College Tuesday at the Joe Zavattaro Complex. The loss drops MCLA to 6-11 on the season, while Williams improves to 12-9-1.

The Williams bats got going early as they scored three times in each of the first two innings. MCLA interrupted the Williams bats in the bottom of the second when the Trailblazers scored seven times of Ephs starter Wilson Barr (Saint Helena, CA) to grab a 7-6 lead after two.

The Ephs bats however wouldn’t go away scoring three more in the third and two in the fourth to retake command of the game and go ahead 11-7 thru four innings of play.

MCLA freshman starter Josh Gould (Adams, MA) didn’t make it out of the third and was relieved by Rick Massey (Cheshire, MA). Massey did a nice job in the middle innings, but was the victim of a couple Trailblazer errors.  Massey ended up going three innings of relief allowing only two earned runs.

The Trailblazers bats were never able to put another real threat together after the second inning explosion that saw MCLA knock out five hits in the inning and have eight straight batters reach safely. 

Matt Berdoff (Greenwich, CT) came in and pitched four scoreless innings in relief of Barr and only allowed two hits and two walks, keeping MCLA at bay.

Williams was led offensively by the top three hitters in their lineup.  Stephen Maier (Orange, CT), James Allison (Amherst, MA) and Al Mathews (North Hampton, NH) were a combined 11-15 with nine runs scored and eight RBI’s. Allison in particular had a day for himself going 5-6 with four runs scored and four RBI’s.

MCLA’s Evan Frank (Schenectady, NY) had a career day reaching base four times; Frank went 3-3 at the dish and added a walk; Frank had a big two RBI single in that second inning. Osiris Mendez (Queens, NY) was 1-3 (double) with a walk as well; while junior John Ripepi (Amsterdam, NY) continues to get on base for the Trailblazers. Ripepi had a single in three trips and walked twice.

Andrew Kelley (Dalton, MA) continues to be a bright spot in the Trailblazers bullpen. Kelley lowered his era to 2.50 by tossing two and one-third scoreless innings of relief.

Berdoff got the victory for the Ephs running his record to 2-0 on the season and Gould suffered his first loss of the season (0-1).

Williams will host Hamilton College Friday at 4:00 PM. MCLA will play at Southern Vermont tomorrow at 3:00 PM.