May 11, 2011

Box Score

Photo Gallery

Connor Burnham (Harwich, Mass.) lined a one out single into shallow center field to end a 15 inning stalemate with New Haven in the opening round of the Northeast-10 Tournament, 1-0, on Wednesday night at LeLacheur Park.

The win propels UMass Lowell baseball into the Northeast-10 Championship weekend, a four-team double-elimination tournament hosted by Adelphi at the Jackie Robinson Athletic Complex. The River Hawks, who improve to 36-10 overall on the season, will play Southern Connecticut State on Friday at 3 p.m. The Chargers fall to 26-18 on the season, likely ending their 2011 campaign.

The starting pitchers locked into a duel through the first eight innings, hanging matching zeros on the board. Jack Leathersich (Beverly, Mass.) left with a no-decision after eight, allowing six hits, two walks and striking out 11. The outing was Leathersich's sixth double-digit strikeout game of the season, tying the program record set by David Williamson in 2002. His counterpart, Matt Sommo (Clinton, Conn.), also tossed eight, allowing three hits, two walks and fanning seven.

Leathersich's most tense moment came in the top of the eighth inning as the Chargers worked the bases loaded with two outs. David Wirkus (Orange, Conn.) battled the lefty to a full count; only to strike out swinging on a chest-high fastball to leave the game deadlocked.

After 14 innings of futility at the plate, James Katsiroubas (Milton, Mass.) led off the 15th inning with a single to left-center field. A suddenly invigorated River Hawk club then witnessed Mark Sanborn (Hopkinton, Mass.) leg out a bunt single, placed perfectly between the pitcher and catcher. With no outs, Pat Devlin (Tewksbury, Mass.) put down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners over and set the stage for some playoff magic.

Burnham, the 54th batter of UMass Lowell's day, fouled off the first pitch to the right side. With a 0-1 count, the senior second baseman cut a single into center that landed softly in front of a helpless fielder and plated Katsiroubas from third.

Working out of the bullpen, Dustin Ramey (Kingston, N.H.) tossed three shutout innings and surrendered just one hit. He was replaced by Garrett Cole (Manchester, N.H.) who picked up his sixth win of the year. Cole held the Chargers off of the scoreboard for four innings, allowing one hit and striking out three.