Falcons Fly Past Giants

Fitchburg scores 19 runs on 21 hits

Winter Haven, Fla. –  The two team combined for 39 hits and 33 runs as the Fitchburg State baseball team battled to a 19-14 victory over the Giants of Keystone College at the RussMatt Central Florida Baseball Invitational.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State University 19, Keystone College 14
Records: Fitchburg State (3-4) | Keystone (2-4)

How It Happened

Keystone opened up the home half of the first frame with a 3 spot on the scoreboard. Senior Joe Fichera (Mahopac, NY) led off with a single to right field and two batters later sophomore Chris Hadsall (Lehman, Pa.) put runners on first and second. Junior Adam Kelly (Beach Lake, Pa.) laced a double to deep center field for a RBI and Hadsall scored on a sacrifice fly from senior Nick Carlini (Clarks Summit, Pa.). Kelly crossed the plate on a wild pitch for a 3-0 lead after one inning.

The Falcons chipped across a run in their next at bat. Senior Matthew Pingitore (Rutland, Mass.) led off the top of the second inning with a single through the left side and came around to score on junior Zachary May (Rochdale, Ma.) double down the right field line.

In the third inning, the Green and Gold pushed across two more runs to knot the game at 3-3. Zachary Gull (Rutland, Mass.) crushed a double scoring junior Nicholas Cordeau (Melrose, Mass.) and senior Joshua Macomber (Berkley, Mass.) who had set the table with a single and walk respectively.

Trailing 4-3 in the top of the fifth inning, senior Brandon Lefebvre (Leominster, Mass.) led off with a bunt single, followed by a single to left center from Macomber. Next Gull stepped to the plate again and delivered a double down the left field line for 2 RBI's and the first lead of the game (5-4) for the Falcons.

In the bottom of the frame Keystone regained the lead (6-5), RJ Gouldsbury (Throop, Pa.) had the big hit of the inning with an RBI double down the third base line.

Fitchburg State broke the game open in the top of the sixth, with the bases full of Falcons, Pingitore laced a double to deep right center field scoring a pair followed by back-to-back RBI singles from junior Johan Asencio (Clinton, Mass.) and May to take a 10-6 lead. The Falcons added seven more runs in the seventh inning and two in the eighth inning to push the score to 19-10. The Giants made it interesting the bottom of the ninth with a grand slam from Gouldsbury for the 19-14 final.

Inside the Numbers

• Both Gull and Pingitore had three hits and three RBI's on the day. Cordeau was 3-for-7 with 2 RBI's.
• Macomber was 2-for-5 with one RBI, and a walk, he collected his 100^th hit of his career
• Junior Austin Alzate (Narragansett, RI) earned the victory going 2.2 innings with 4 runs, 3 hits and a strikeout
• Gouldsbury led the Giants going 4-for-5 with 5 RBI's.

 Up Next

The Falcons will are off until Friday when they face Keuka in a doubleheader at Lake Myrtle Complex starting at 3:00 PM.