East Providence, R.I. – The Johnson & Wales
University baseball team dropped a 9-6 decision against UMass
Boston in non-conference action at Pierce Field on Wednesday
afternoon.
Jonathan Melendez (Providence, R.I.) put Johnson
& Wales on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the
fourth, giving the Wildcats the 1-0 advantage. JWU extended their
lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth when junior Matt Yaeger
(Glendale, Ariz.) scored on an RBI groundout by freshman
Tyler Newell
(Westerly, R.I.) and an RBI single by freshman Rich
MacDonald (Larchmont, N.Y.) gave the squad the three
run advantage.
UMass Boston scored in the top of the seventh on back-to-back RBI
groundouts by sophomore Ty Buccetti (Wallingford,
Conn.) and sophomore Mark McCormack (Shelton,
Conn.), cutting the lead to 3-2. The visiting Beacons then
took the 4-3 lead on a two run home run by junior Ryan
Walsh (Newton, Mass.). JWU responded in the bottom of the
seventh when a double by junior Zach Boyes (West
Warwick, R.I.) scored junior Teddy Katz
(Pittsburgh, Pa.) to knot the game at 4-4. In the top of
the eighth, UMass Boston took the 5-4 lead on an RBI single by
senior Drew Tambling (Sterling, Mass.) The Beacons
lead then grew to 8-4 on a three run triple by McCormack. UMB took
a 9-4 advantage into the bottom of the eighth. After a scoreless
top of the ninth, JWU rallied after a two-run home run by Katz cut
the lead to 9-6. That would be as close as the Wildcats would get,
however as UMass Boston held on for the three run victory.
Katz was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI in the loss for Johnson
& Wales while senior Nick Marine
(Bristol, R.I.) pitched five scoreless innings for the
Wildcats, allowing just one hit with two strikeouts.
Walsh went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs for UMass Boston while
McCormack registered a pair of hits with four RBI for the Beacons.
Junior Tony Damon (San Bruno, Calif.) went three
innings of relief for UMB, allowing three runs on four hits to pick
up the victory.
With the loss JWU is now 2-13 for the season while UMass Boston
improves to 7-3 for the year. The Wildcats will return to action on
Friday, March 26th when they travel to UMass Dartmouth for a
non-conference contest, starting at 3:30 p.m.
