NE-10 TOURNAMENT: #2 Assumption Defeats #6 UMass Lowell, 5-2
Barbale and Dupuis pitch Greyhounds into winners bracket semifinal tomorrow against #5 New Haven
RINDGE, N.H. (May 8, 2009) - Second-seeded Assumption College scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and made them stand in posting a 5-2 victory over sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell in opening day action of the double-elimination bracket of the 2009 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championships, hosted by Franklin Pierce University, at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field tonight.
Assumption (31-17-1, 20-9-1 NE-10) advances to tomorrow's winner's bracket semifinal where it will face fifth-seeded University of New Haven (22-19, 16-14 NE-10) at 3 p.m. New Haven posted a 5-4 upset victory over top-seeded and host Franklin Pierce (33-16, 24-6 NE-10) in today's opening game. The Ravens will battle UMass Lowell (25-20, 15-15 NE-10) in an elimination game tomorrow at 11 a.m.
Assumption senior righthander Jeff Barbale (Charlton, Mass./St. Peter-Marian) picked up his eighth win on the mound and junior righthander Tim Dupuis (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield) closed the game out to earn his ninth save of the season. Barbale (8-3) allowed just two earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and a walk over 7.2 innings. Dupuis worked around a walk and two wild pitches with three strikeouts over the final inning and a third, retiring the side in order in the ninth with two strikeouts.
Senior Mike Baillargeon (Worcester, Mass./Holy Name) hit 3-for-4 with a run scored for Assumption. Classmate Mike DiReda (Shrewsbury, Mass./Saint John's) was 1-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, while junior Tim Scafidi (Worcester, Mass./Burncoat) finished 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.
Sophomore Mark Wiggins (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding) hit 2-for-4 for UMass Lowell, while freshman Pat Devlin (Tewksbury, Mass./Tewksbury) was 2-for-5. Junior Jared Notargiacomo (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) batted 1-for-3 with a double and run scored, while classmate Taylor von Kriegenbergh (Stoneham, Mass./Stoneham) and freshman Matt Jacobs (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) both drove in runs.
Junior righthander Dustin Ramey (Kingston, N.H./Sanborn Regional) suffered the loss (2-5) despite a complete game effort for the River Hawks. He yielded five earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk over eight innings. Ramey settled down after allowing four runs in the first to allow just a run on four hits over the final seven.
Assumption scored all the runs it would need in its first at bat. Scafidi delivered an RBI single up the middle with two outs, followed by a three-run blast to right by DiReda for his seventh home runs of the season.
UMass Lowell crept within two in the seventh with a pair of runs. Notargiacomo led off with a double and scored on a double to right center by Jacobs, who later scored on a groundout by von Kriegenbergh. Assumption added an insurance run in the eighth when sophomore Shawn Frigon (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter-Marian) doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from classmate Mike Foley (Worcester, Mass./St. John's).
