North Myrtle Beach, SC- Weather has made the Worcester State Baseball team's schedule a bit of a roller coaster in the opening days of their Spring Break games at the Cal Ripken Training Center, forcing a number of late night starts. Those late nights caught up with the Lancers as they squared off with McDaniel in a pushed back game initially scheduled for 6:30pm that was moved to 8pm.
McDaniel was quick to jump on the board in the first, scoring their first two runs, before adding to that total over the next 4 innings. The Lancers worked each inning in an attempt to rattle the Green Dragons, but struggled at the plate, failing to convert their base runners to runs. In the fourth inning the Lancers looked to be correcting their ship, as they shut McDaniel out, and fielded to a quick wrap in the field. Worcester carried this success into the fourth when they nabbed a run by senior Alex Sorenti-Burns (Sagamore Beach, MA) after he got on base off a McDaniel third baseman error. A ground ball by first year Zachary Scotti (Warwick, RI) advanced him to second, where an additional error, this time by the shortstop, sent Sorenti-Burns home for the opening run.
Both teams settled down after the fourth, each remaining scoreless in the fifth and sixth. The Green Terror managed to add another run to their tally in the seventh to push their lead to 13-1. A senior Chris Ausiello (Tynsgboro, MA) single to right field in the bottom of the inning brought junior Colin Fitzgerald (Auburn, MA) across home for the Lancers to gain back the run and keep pace with McDaniel into the 8th. McDaniel knocked in another two runs in the 8th to wrap up their scoring. Worcester State attempted to mount a comeback in the bottom of the 9th but it was ultimately too much of a gap for the Lancers to overcome.
Sorenti-Burns and Fitzgerald lead the Lancers with a run each, while sophomore Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA) and senior Zach Roberts (Northbridge, MA) each recorded two hits on the evening.
Worcester State is back in action at 1pm tomorrow versus Plattsburgh, in a single game matchup at Socastee High School as the Cal Ripken Center's fields will not be available for play.