Ben Nelson runs the bases against UAlbany
Bruce Preston
6
Winner Massachusetts UMASS 3-2
4
Merrimack College MER 2-4
Winner
Massachusetts UMASS
3-2
6
Final
4
Merrimack College MER
2-4
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Massachusetts UMASS 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 2 0 6 6 0
Merrimack College MER 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 5 3

W: Henry, Jared (1-0) L: Gillette, Cedric (0-1) S: Pawloski, Jack (2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

UMass Wins Series Opener vs. Baseball, 6-4

Links: Box Score

ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College baseball team held a 4-1 lead going into the seventh inning of Friday's series opener with the UMass Minutemen, but the visitors scored five runs in the seventh and eighth frames to emerge with a 6-4 win. Merrimack dropped to 2-4 after the game while UMass improved to 3-2.

The Basics
Score: UMass 6, Merrimack 4
Records: Merrimack (2-4) | UMass (3-2)
Location: Greater Lawrence Technical School | Andover, Mass.     

Rapid Recap
  • Senior Vin Zappulla took the ball for the Warriors, and threw two scoreless innings to start the game. In the bottom of the second, junior Ben Nelson came through in the clutch with a two-out, two-run single to give Merrimack a 2-0 lead. Graduate student Thomas Joyce and junior Kurtis Stadnicki scored on the play
  • UMass scored its first run in the top of the third, but Zappulla stranded runners on second and third to limit the damage
  • After Zappulla struck out the side in the top of the sixth, Merrimack added two more runs in the bottom half. Graduate student Nick Shumski hit a double, Joyce reached on a walk and both Warriors scored on a single by freshman Bryant Skurbe
  • Zappulla was relieved in the top of the seventh after allowing a run. Junior Cedric Gillette came out of the bullpen, and saw two of the runners he inherited cross home plate. The frame ended with the game tied at four runs apiece
  • Gillette allowed two baserunners to reach in the top of the eighth. He gave way to junior Wyatt Villella, but UMass was able to touch home twice to grab its first lead of the game at 6-4. Nelson hit a two-out single in the ninth to bring the potential game-tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but the game ended one batter later
Top Performers // Notes
  • WP: Henry (1-0) | LP: Gillette (0-1) | S: Pawloski (2)
  • Nelson posted the first multi-hit game of his career, and tied his career high with two RBI
  • With two more RBI, Skurbe now leads the team with eight through three games
  • Zappulla struck out nine Minutemen in 6.1 innings of work. It marked the second most punch outs of his career, and the most he's had at the Division I level
Up Next:
Merrimack and UMass meet again tomorrow at 1 p.m.  

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