Baseball swept by MMA

Courtesy of MMA Sports Information

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Senior Kevin Kwedor (Marshfield, Mass.) tossed a one-hitter and struck out seven over six innings of work in the nightcap, while his freshman brother Brian (Marshfield, Mass.) scattered six hits and fanned three over six frames in the opener as Massachusetts Maritime swept a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader from MCLA Monday afternoon by scores of 11-2 in the lid-lifter and 9-0 in the second contest in games played at Commodore Hendy Field.

Kevin Kwedor, who threw the host Buccaneers' (15-10, 7-1 MASCAC) first perfect game in school history on Patriots' Day two years ago against the visiting Trailblazers (3-18, 0-8 MASCAC), allowed a lead-off walk and a single before retiring the final 18 batters he faced in the nightcap to improve to 3-1 on the season.  In three career starts against MCLA, Kevin Kwedor has pitched 18 innings, allowing seven hits and two runs while walking two and striking out 19, including one hit and 13 strikeouts in two career home starts alone.  

Massachusetts Maritime got the only runs he would need in the first inning of the second outing on an RBI double by juniorJake Petruzzelli (Abington, Mass.) that was followed by a run-scoring single off the bat of sophomore Cobie Gerbis (Holmes Beach, Fla.), and the hosts extended that margin to 3-0 in the third on sophomore Logan Sullo's (Acushnet, Mass.) sacrifice fly. Massachusetts Maritime closed out the nightcap scoring with a pair of three-run rallies in the fourth and sixth innings, as a two-run triple by senior Everett Walsh (Marstons Mills, Mass.), a two-run double by sophomore Billy Keane (Braintree, Mass.) and an RBI two-bagger off the bat of sophomore Connor Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) highlighted the uprisings.

Kennedy collected three of the nine nightcap hits for the Buccaneers, who also received a sacrifice fly from freshman Paul Sances(Middleboro, Mass.).  Freshman Joe Dimassimo (Dalton, Mass.) accounted for the Trailblazers' lone second game hit with a single to left, as freshman Brendan Kelly (Averill Park, N.Y.) allowed seven hits and struck out three over five innings of work to fall to 1-2 on the spring for MCLA.

 Massachusetts Maritime sent 11 batters to the plate in its first at-bat of the opener while grabbing a 5-0 advantage, as a two-run single by Keane followed Sullo's RBI double, a run-scoring single by Gerbis and a bases loaded walk to Walsh.  The hosts extended that margin to 8-0 in the third on RBI doubles by Keane and Sances along with a run-scoring single by Sullo, but the Trailblazers struck for a pair of tallies in the top of the fifth on an error and an RBI single off the bat of senior Nate Alibozek (Adams, Mass.).  The Buccaneers iced their triumph in the lid-lifter on an infield single by Gerbis in the fifth and a Kennedy sixth inning sacrifice fly that preceded an error, as Brian Kwedor worked around a walk and threw 61 of his 81 pitches for strikes in improving to 4-0 on the season. 

Sullo, Gerbis and Keane each rapped out three hits as part of a 13-hit opening game attack for Massachusetts Maritime, which has now won 13 of its last 14 MASCAC outings dating back to April 18, 2015.  Dimassimo added a single as part of a six-hit effort in the lid-lifter for the Trailblazers, as senior Robert Jutras (Readsboro, Vt.) allowed three earned runs and struck out six over five innings of work to fall to 1-2 on the spring for MCLA.

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Fisher in a non-league outing on Thursday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field beginning at 3:00 p.m., while MCLA hosts Elms in a non-league contest on Thursday afternoon in North Adams, Mass. that begins at 4:00 p.m.