Worcester Falls in 10 Inning Battle to Curry College

Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Baseball team returned to action this afternoon after dropping a nail biter to cross-town rivals Clark University yesterday afternoon. The Lancers are on their fourth game in seven days since their return from Spring Break and looking to grab a win against the host Colonels.

Curry was quick to get a run on the board, after a 1-2-3 top of the first for Worcester State, that led to not only a run but saw the bases loaded with just a single out recorded.Junior Nick Bousquet (Athol, MA) struckout the next batter and forced a quick pop out to graduate student Sean Devin (Lynn, MA) to get the Lancers out of the inning with just the minimal one run damage. Worcester State looked to respond in the second where a Devin double just three pitches in got a runner on base, followed by a senior Chris Ausiello (Tyngsboro, MA) single and stolen base had two runners quickly in scoring position for a first year Aaron Seigal (Abington, MA) at bat. Seigal did not disappoint, dropping a ball into shallow center field to send the Lancers first run across the plate. A ground out by first year Gavin Wells (North Attleboro, MA) sent run number two home sending the Lancers ahead 2-1 heading into the bottom of the second. The blue and gold aimed to make quick work of the at bat with the first hitter popping up pitch number one for a foul catch out by senior Alex Sorenti-Burns (Sagamore Beach, MA), but an error looking for out number three saw Curry tie the game up at two. 

The Lancers looked to get things off and rolling quickly in the third as they capitalized on a sophomore Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA) walk, to steal second and a junior Tom Halliwell (Leominster, MA) ground out to quickly put him in scoring position. A Sorenti-Burns sac fly saw the Lancers grab the 3-2 lead and reclaim the edge in the game. Curry put the pressure on the Lancers in the bottom of third with base runners at third and first and no outs on the board in a bid to reclaim the lead. A strike out and a tag at home plate quickly changed the pressure back to Curry who were unable to salvage the situation, walking away with no runs. Worcester added an additional run in the fourth off an error by the Colonels center fielder allowed first year  Nathan Thurber (Framingham, MA) to cross home plate. Curry was able to claim back a single run in the bottom of the fourth to close the gap to 4-3, which would hold through the top of the sixth.

Curry tied up the game in the bottom of the 6th inning off a single, stolen base and some wild pitches. Curry continued to tally up their runs in the sixth, adding two more, off two singles to jump ahead 6-4. A walk and two additional singles by Curry quickly saw the Colonels double the lead, closing the inning with an 8-4 lead. The Lancer got work quickly in their next at bat to chip away at the lead. A Halliwell single and an error on a Sorenti-Burns grounder quickly had runners on base. A Devin line drive to deep right field saw Halliwell round third and sliding into home plate uncontested to bring the score to five for Worcester State and forcing a pitching change on the Colonels. 

This change was not enough to slow the Lancers as an Ausiello attempt forced an out, but additionally brought Sorenti-Burns in for run number six. A double steal sequence saw Ausiello, who had already stolen second previously, reach third while Thurber advanced to second. A walk for Seigal not long after loaded the bases with just a single out on the board for Worcester State. A fielder's choice situation saw Thurber tagged out, but Ausiello crossed home plate to close the gap to 7-8. The excitement did not end there as the next pitch saw senior Zack Roberts (Northbridge, MA) single to left field bringing Siegal home from second and tying the game 8-8 as he just out passed the toss to home plate. The Lancers reclaimed the lead off a single from Tyler Smith that allowed Wells to score, but in an attempt to extend the play Smith was tagged out at second to finally close out the prolific inning for the Lancers. 

Worcester State forced Curry to quick outs in the seventh and after a brief bit of tension in the eighth carried the 9-8 lead into the final inning. The Lancers were looking to walk away with the win in the ninth after the heartbreaking losses in the bottom of the ninth in their last two games. With two outs already recorded the Curry Colonels knocked a homerun out of the park to bring the game to a 9-9 stall and the first extra inning game of the season. The Lancers grabbed a quick run in the 10th off a single from Roberts and a double from Tyler Smith, which sent Roberts home for the leading run that they looked to hold onto to wrap up the win. 

The Colonels, with two outs on the board, managed to capitalize on a number  of late errors by the Lancers to steal the victory with a two run bottom of the 10th for the 11-10 victory.

Worcester State (4-10, 0-0) returns to action on Wednesday in their home opener against Eastern Nazarene at 3:30pm.