BELMONT, Mass. - The Rivier College baseball team scored
the go-ahead run on a suicide squeeze play in the top of the
12th inning Thursday afternoon, and the Raiders held on
for a 4-3 non-conference victory over Plymouth State University.
The game was played at Belmont High School due to lack of playable
fields in New Hampshire.
PSU came from behind three times to tie the game, including a
ninth-inning rally to even the score at 2-2, and an 11th-inning
rally to deadlock things at 3-3. The Panthers put two runners
on in the last of the 12th inning but Rivier closed out the win
with a deep fly out to right field. The Raiders won their
fourth straight game to improve to 11-7, while PSU dropped to 5-15.
The outcome spoiled a strong pitching performance by PSU freshman
Chris Bryant (Lebanon, N.H.). He pitched
nine innings and surrendered just two runs (one earned) on five
hits and no walks. Junior Joey Brayton
(Medfield, Mass.) came on and worked the last three innings for
PSU, taking the loss after giving up three hits and two runs.
Rivier got strong pitching efforts from senior John McMahon
(Somerville, Mass.) and junior Robert Stump (Ft. Lauderdale,
Fla.). McMahon worked the first five innings, allowing one
run, one hit and four walks, and Stump came out of the bullpen to
earn the win, pitching seven innings and giving up two runs on
three hits and six walks.
Junior Kevin Levandowski (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton)
finished with two of PSU's four hits on the day. His
first-inning double extended his hitting streak to 16 games, and
his single in the 12th inning made it six straight games for
Levandowski with at least two hits.
The Raiders scored their first three runs on sacrifice flies, one
in the second inning by sophomore Justin Ranauro (Chelmsford,
Mass.), one in the fourth by McMahon, and one in the
11th by senior Isaac Burkett (Hudson, N.H.). PSU
tied it for the first time in the fourth inning on an RBI groundout
by freshman Dan Eagan (Norwich, Conn.), and forced
extra innings following a ninth-inning RBI single by senior
Jim VanGyzen (Glocester, R.I.) Brayton
helped himself with an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th.
Sophomore Ryan O'Connor (Medford, Mass.) singled for Rivier to lead
off the 12th inning, and eventually came around to score on the
suicide squeeze by sophomore Chris Hunt (Lisbon, N.H.)
PSU is scheduled to play at Western Connecticut State University
this Saturday in a Little East Conference doubleheader (12:00
p.m.), pending weather conditions. Rivier is slated to host
Daniel Webster Saturday in a twinbill (12:00 p.m.)
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