MILTON, Mass. – Senior Tim Sweeney (Walpole, Mass.) drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to lift top-seeded Curry College to a 5-4 win over #8 Gordon College on Day 1 of The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) Baseball Tournament. The Colonels will now host #5 Salve Regina on Wednesday, while the Fighting Scots take on #4 Wentworth. The Seahawks were a 14-6 winner over the Leopards in other Day 1 action.

Upset-minded Gordon (16-19) built leads of 2-0 and 4-1 off Curry starter Cory Moore (Lynn, Mass.). The Fighting Scots got on the board in the fourth on a solo home run by senior Steve Kefalas (Wenham, Mass.), and stuck for another single run in the fifth on an RBI double by senior Andrew Zgrablich (Doylestown, Pa.).

The Colonels (26-11) cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fifth after a run-scoring single from senior Jesse Bruinsma (Lynnfield, Mass.) plated sophomore Brian Morante (Westwood, Mass.).

Gordon padded its lead with a pair of runs the seventh, but Curry came storming back with three in the eighth to tie the game at 4-4. The big blow was a two-run double by senior Rick Vail (Lynnfield, Mass.) down the left field line off Scots’ freshman starter John Kanas (East Moriches, N.Y.).

After Colonels’ junior reliever Mike Hughes (Middleboro, Mass.) kept Gordon off the board in the top of the inning, Bruinsma walked to open the bottom of the ninth. Zgrablich came on in relief and proceeded to walk the next three batters, including Sweeney, who forced in the game-winning run.

Hughes picked up the win, improving to 7-1 on the season. He allowed just two walks in his one inning of work.  Moore went the first eight, surrendering nine hits, four walks and four earned runs, while striking out 10. He broke his own school record for strikeouts in a season with 55, and established a school record for career strikeouts with 179.

Kanas went 7 1/3 innings, allowing five hits, two walks and three earned runs, while striking out two. Freshman Ben Davidson (Sterling, MA) absorbed the loss, falling to 3-3 on the year. Davidson walked three batters in 2/3 of an inning of work.

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