Baseball Falls 9-2 To UMass Dartmouth In Home Opener

Worcester, MA --- UMass Dartmouth senior Cory DeMedeiros (Fall River, MA/Durfee) went 4-for-5 with three doubles, a trio of runs scored and a stolen base to help pace the Corsairs to a 9-2 victory over Worcester State in non-conference baseball action this afternoon at the Kevin Lyons Baseball Diamond.

In the victory UMD improves to 7-5 overall while the Lancers slip to 6-8 in the loss. UMass Dartmouth received votes in this week's New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association Division III Poll.

Other standouts for the Corsairs included senior Alex Newton (Saco, ME) and sophomore Tyler Cacciola (W. Greenwich, RI) who both tallied two hits each. There were no multi-hitters for the Blue and Gold.

DeMedeiros jump started a three-run top of the first for UMass Dartmouth when he drove in senior Ryan Medeiros (Acushnet, MA), who reached second on a throwing error by the shortstop to begin the game. Senior Alberto Vazquez (Roxbury, MA) and Cacciola then followed with notched run producing at-bats.

The Corsairs tacked on one more run in the top of the third for the 4-0 advantage. Senior Nate Farias (Fall River, MA/Durfee) plated DeMedeiros after he was hit by a pitch with the bases juiced.

Worcester State cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth. As senior David Ruggiero (Peabody, MA) stood on first, senior Cody Osburn (Sacramento, CA) laced a double into the alley of the outfield and both runners advanced one base on an errant throw by the centerfielder, with Ruggiero scoring on the play.

Junior John Boyd (Worcester, MA/Worcester Tech) then made it a 4-2 game as he manufactured a run on a sacrifice fly to bring in Osburn.

UMass Dartmouth answered by slowly building up their advantage, scoring five times over the final four frames of the contest to put the game out of reach.

Senior Ben Monteiro (Swansea, MA) highlighted a two-run sixth with a solo homer for his first of the campaign before freshman Zach Courier (Mansfield, MA) scored on an RBI ground out by freshman Josh O'Neill (Halifax, MA) and Farias  scampered home in the seventh on a passed ball.  

DeMedieros scored his third run of the game in the top of the eighth on when he touched the plate by way of a wild pitch.

Junior Adam Chouinard (Swansea, MA) earned the victory on the hill for the visitors with eight strong innings on 96 pitches. Chouinard (1-1) permitted two runs (one earned) on two hits to go with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks.

With a two-run contest entering the bottom of the fifth, he responded by hurling four perfect frames to give the Corsairs some momentum in the games later innings.

Sophomore Tyler Barrie (Oxford, MA) was dealt the loss for the hosts. Barrie (1-1) allowed four runs (three earned), five hits and two walks, but he did ring up four batters on strikes.

Barry saw his 10-game hitting streak come to an end while Ruggiero extended his to 13 consecutive contests.