Myrtle Beach, SC- The Worcester State Baseball team was back in action on St. Patrick's Day night in two 9-innning battles. First up on their slate was a delayed match between SUNY-Plattsburgh, who they were meant to play earlier in the week before the rain forced a cancellation of that double header. The Lancers came away with… The second game on the night was a big one for Worcester as they matched up in the first of two games over Spring Break with 2022 National Champions Eastern Connecticut State.
The Lancers made quick work of their first inning of action forcing an early pop out and double play to send Plattsburg off the plate and onto the field. The Cardinals returned the favor and quickly worked Worcester out of the box. A 1-2-3 second inning followed for both teams, as sophomore Jarret Morrill (Chelmsford, MA) returned to the mound for the top of the third. A single hit for the Cardinals was all that was allowed by Morrill, and the Lancer did not fare much better as junior Tom Halliwell (Leominster, MA) and sophomore Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA) each singled but Worcester failed to capitalize on the base runners. The 1-2-3 sequence continued for Morrill as forced the Plattsburgh batters to put the ball into play for quick outs, needing only six pitches to clear the order. The bottom of the inning saw a similar pattern as the last as Worcester nabbed two singles but left both runners on base as the inning ended.
Morrill's crisp pitching continued into the fifth inning as he forced the first two batters into a ground out and a strike out. He did have a single nicked off him, but his fielders stepped up to close out the inning as senior Chris Ausiello (Tyngsboro, MA) nabbed a grounder to send it to 2nd for out number three. The game remained scoreless through the sixth. Plattsburgh managed to find a gap in the seventh when an error by the Lancers' 2nd baseman sophomore Xavier Quezada (Providence, RI) brought the first batter all the way to 2nd. A follow up single found Plattsburgh's Blair racing home. Two errors by Worcester State loaded the bases. First year Nolan Turner (Barnstable, MA) stepped in for Morrill but pitch number one made contact with the batter and sent home run number two for Plattsburgh. A fly out on the next at bat brought run number three as well as the first out for the Lancers defense. Though Halliwell answered with a double of his own in the bottom of the inning, the Lancers failed to capitalize on the opportunity and came out of the inning with no runs. It was a quiet 8th inning for Plattsburgh as Turner made quick work of the batters and brought Worcester back to the plate for the bottom of the inning.
The bottom of the eighth saw Worcester find a bit of momentum as an error on the Cardinals shortstop saw Quezada onto first, where an Ausiello single put two runners on. Unlike the previous inning, the Lancers did not let this opportunity go to waste as junior Colin Fitzgerald (Auburn, MA) doubled with a fly ball to center field bringing both base runners home and Worcester only down one run as the inning came to a close.
The bottom of the 9th had Worcester looking for their own walk off win needing three runs, as they fell yesterday in game to New England College in walk off fashion. Worcester was unable to overcome the six run difference the Cardinals brought into the bottom of the inning, dropping the first game of the day 8-2.
Game two for the Lancers was set to be a tough match, as Worcester was taking on last year's National Champions in the Eastern Connecticut Warriors. The game started in a pitching duel with senior Kevin Zarnoch Jr. (Boston, MA) and Eastern Connecticut's Scudder pitching lights out for the four innings before Eastern Connecticut managed to find their groove knocking in nine runs over two innings of action. Worcester was able to grab a run back in the seventh when a senior Ben Smith (Bourne, MA) single to left field sent Quezada home for their lone run of the game. East Conn. scored one more run before the close of the game coming away with a 10-1 win over the Lancers.
Ausiello led Worcester with two hits while Ben Smith had one hit for an RBI.