Baseball Rally Back Twice in Sweep of Falcons

WESTFIELD, Mass. – The MCLA Baseball team picked up its first MASCAC wins of the season this afternoon when it met up with the Fitchburg State Falcons. Forced to move the game to Westfield State's Jim and Bud Hagan Field, the Trailblazers rallied back from deficits of 6-2 and 6-0 to sweep the doubleheader by scores of 7-6 and 9-7.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026
• Game #1: FSU 6, MCLA 7
• Game #2: FSU 7, MCLA 9
• Records: Fitchburg State University Falcons 3-17 (MASCAC 1-7) | MCLA Trailblazers 8-9 (MASCAC 2-3)

HIGHLIGHTS

• Game #1
  • MCLA posted the first runs on the board in the second inning on an RBI double by Chris Vargas (Queens Village, NY) and a single to centerfield by Joe Sardo (Great Neck, NY).
  • The Falcons responded with a pair of multi-run innings. In the third inning, the road team posted four runs on four hits, including RBI singles from Tyler Fonck and Erick Dawson. In the fourth inning, it was Fonck's double down the left field line that plated Jason Kelly and Joseph Abt.
  • The Trailblazers started their comeback in the bottom of the fourth when Jake Jasminski (Milford, CT) scampered home on a wild pitch to cut the Falcon lead to 6-3.
  • After a scoreless fifth inning, MCLA cut the deficit to one run on Roshan Warriar's (Pittsfield, MA) single up the middle, which brought home Riley Derenzo (Schenectady, NY) and Benjamin Jacob (Pittsfield, MA).
  • The Trailblazers tied the game in the seventh on Vargas' double to centerfield and then walked the game off when Jacob's single up the middle allowed Vargas to complete the circuit.
  • MCLA's Chase Wendling (Pittsfield, MA) threw two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief before giving way to John Arnott (Southington, CT), who closed out the seventh and recorded the win to level his record at 1-1. William Ernst absorbed the loss and fell to 1-3 for the Falcons.
• Game #2
  • Fitchburg built its second large lead of the afternoon, scoring six runs over the first three innings, including posting multi-run innings in the first and second frames.
  • The Trailblazers' offense resumed in the third stanza on an RBI single by Joshua Bissaillon (East Greenbush, NY), a bases-loaded walk by Vargas that chased the Falcons' starting pitcher, Owen Corcoran, from the game. Jasminski gave reliever Pete Joslyn a rude welcome by driving a double into the right-center field gap, which scored Bissaillon and Vargas. After Sardo walked to load the bases, Christopher Gallagher (Albany, NY) was then hit with a pitch, forcing home Vargas.
  • Fitchburg scored a single run in the fifth inning on a Kelly sac fly after Liam Currier's one-out triple.
  • The Trailblazers got the run back in the bottom half of the same frame. Gallagher started the inning with a single to centerfield and then advanced to second on a passed ball. After pinch-hitter Jacob Olson (Holden, MA) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Gallagher to third, Camden Zerbato (Pittsfield, MA) singled to left two batters later to bring him home.
  • MCLA's Collin Booth (Clarksburg, MA) threw two innings of one-run relief to pick up his first collegiate win, improving to 1-0. Warriar went the final two innings, working out of a bases-loaded, no-out scenario in the sixth before closing out the win in the seventh to record his second save of the year. FSU's Ryan DiSano took the defeat, falling to 1-3.

UP NEXT:

On Tuesday, MCLA will be back in action when they return to Hagan Field and Westfield State for a MASCAC matchup with the Owls. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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