Western New England Falls to UMass Dartmouth, 6-3

Webber tallies two hits for Golden Bears

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 18, 2019) – The Western New England University baseball team was held to three hits in a 6-3, non-conference loss to UMass Dartmouth on Thursday afternoon at Trelease Park.

Top Performers
Sophomore outfielder Joe Webber (Marshfield, Mass.) led the Golden Bears at the plate, reaching base three times with two singles and a walk.

UMass Dartmouth was fueled by junior infielders Mike Knell (Dennis, Mass.) and JR DiSarcina (Barnstable, Mass.), and senior catcher Jack Harrington (Barnstable, Mass.). Knell and DiSarcina both homered and scored two runs apiece, while Knell also walked twice and DiSarcina tripled. Harrington added two hits and one RBI for the Corsairs.

Game Review
The Corsairs got off to a strong start, as DiSarcina and Knell both launched solo home runs over the left field fence in the top of the first inning.

In the top of the third, UMass Dartmouth added to its lead as DiSarcina tripled into the gap in left center field, before coming in to score on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.

Western New England rallied to tie the contest in the bottom of the fifth. Junior Zac Nussbaum (Bridgewater, Mass.) and senior Aaron Rios (Stratford, Conn.) got it started with walks, before Webber singled to load the bases. Junior Kevin Johnson (Waterford, Conn.) came up next and hit a grounder to DiSarcina, who was unable to field the ball cleanly, bringing in two runs on the error. With runners still at the corners, senior Brian Valeriano (Stratford, Conn.) lifted a fly ball to center field, allowing Webber to score on the sacrifice fly.

The visitors quickly regained the lead, however, with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Knell led off with a walk and stole second before coming in to score the go-ahead run on an RBI single off the bat of sophomore Tucker Hetherman (Webster, Mass.). Two batters later, Harrington increased UMass Dartmouth's lead to 5-3 with an RBI single down the right field line.

The Corsairs tacked on an insurance run in the ninth, extending the final margin to 6-3.

Notes
• Western New England sophomore Kevin Hummer (Shrewsbury, Mass.) took his first loss of the season after surrendering five runs on seven hits with six strikeouts over 5.2 innings.
• UMass Dartmouth utilized five pitchers in the contest. Freshman Chase Stafford (Somerset, Mass.) made his first career start, allowing just two hits over four shutout innings, while senior Matt Cronin (Framingham, Mass.) tossed 1.2 scoreless frames and junior Nate Tellier (Attleboro, Mass.) got the final six outs to earn his fourth save of the season.

Up Next
Western New England (18-10) is scheduled to resume CCC play on Saturday at Curry, while UMass Dartmouth (12-15) travels to Johnson & Wales tomorrow.