MILTON, Mass. – Senior first baseman Rick Vail (Lynnfield, MA) homered and singled to drive in four runs to lead the Curry College baseball team over visiting University of Massachusetts Boston, 12-7, on Tuesday afternoon in Milton. The Colonels improve to 27-13 on the season, while the Beacons’ five-game win streak comes to an end as they fall to 22-14.
Junior second baseman Ryan Walsh (Newton, MA) doubled in the first and a single in the third gave him 178 career hits to move past Nao Masamoto (1998-2001) and become UMass Boston’s all-time hit leader.
Curry scored three times in the bottom of the opening frame to get on the board first when junior catcher Brad Hawn (Chino Hills, CA) doubled and scored on a two-out run-scoring single by senior centerfielder Tim Sweeney (Walpole, MA). Vail followed with a two-run home run to centerfield to give the home team a 3-0 lead. The Colonels exploded for six more runs in the second for all the runs they would need on the afternoon. Curry took advantage of a pair of Beacons’ errors and got RBI singles from Hawn and Vail in addition to a run-scoring double off the bat of sophomore designated hitter Brian Morante (Westwood, MA) to give the Colonels a 9-0 advantage.
UMass Boston countered with five runs in the top of the third. The Beacons scored its first run on an error before senior left fielder Drew Tambling (Sterling, MA) knocked in another run with a single to left field. Sophomore center fielder Mark McCormack (Shelton, CT) followed with a single to right to put runners on the corners for Walsh, whose record-setting base knock brought in UMass Boston’s third run of the day. It also gave him 99 total bases on the year to break his own single-season mark from a year ago. Run-producing ground outs from junior first baseman Connor Reinfurt (Manchester, NH) and senior designated hitter Jeff Outzen (San Mateo, CA) pulled the visitors to within 9-5.
Curry tacked on two more runs in the fourth and another in the fifth for insurance runs and a 12-5 margin. Senior Tony Luciani (Weymouth, MA) drew a leadoff walk and went to third on a double to left by Sweeney, before scoring on a Vail ground out in the fourth. Junior right fielder Sean Jackman (Stoughton, MA) later stroked a two-out single to center to bring home the second run of the frame. A homer to left in the fifth from senior left fielder Jesse Bruinsma (Lynnfield, MA) capped the scoring for the Colonels.
The Beacons got two runs back in the eighth to close to within 12-7, but that would be as close as they would get for the rest of the contest. Walsh worked a leadoff walk and scored ahead of a milestone home run by junior catcher Tim Fontaine (Worcester, MA). The blast was Fontaine’s ninth of the season to tie Tambling as well as Adam Waxman (2000-03) and Pat Donovan (2004-05) for the single-season school record. Walsh’s run scored on the play was his 56th of the year to eclipse McCormack’s school record for single-season runs scored set last season.
Junior relief pitcher Mike Hughes (Middleboro, MA) was credited with the victory to improve to 8-1 for Curry, while freshman Tom Cole (Mattapoisett, MA) suffered the loss to fall to 2-2 for UMass Boston. He gave up nine runs (six earned) on six hits and a pair of walks in addition to a strikeout.
Sweeney finished the day with a 3-5 effort, including a double, a stolen base, an RBI and two runs scored for the Colonels, while Hawn was 2-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Walsh was the only Beacon to record multiple hits.
UMass Boston will be in action again on Thursday, May 6 when it travels to Bristol, RI to take on Roger Williams University at 4:00 p.m., while Curry awaits news on a post-season tournament bid with the completion of its regular season. (Game recap courtesy of UMass Boston Sports Information)
