Box Score Christian Lavoie turned in a masterful pitching performance as the UMass Lowell baseball team defeated division rival Merrimack College, 3-1, Wednesday afternoon, at Warrior Diamond, in North Andover, Mass.
The sophomore righthander from Hopkinton, Mass. allowed just three hits and an unearned run in eight innings of work. Lavoie walked two and struck out one.
“He had great fast ball command,” says UMass Lowell Coach
Ken Harring. “He moved the ball in and out and kept hitters off balance all day. It's the best command he's shown all year.”
The win improved UMass Lowell's record to 17-12-1 overall, 1-3-1 in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference. It was Merrimack's first division loss. The Warriors are 18-9 overall, 4-1 in the division.
It was a day for pitchers; all four runs scored in the ball game were unearned.
Merrimack starter Tim Cashman threw a complete game, allowing just three hits. He walked no one.
“It was a really good ball game,” says Harring. “We didn't get a lot of hits, but I liked the way we played; we executed and we put balls in play.”
All the scoring in the ball game came in the fourth inning.
The River Hawks hung a “3” on the scoreboard combining two hits, a sacrifice bunt and a couple of Merrimack errors to produce the runs. Sophomore
Jacob O'Keefe's (Wellington, Fla.) RBI double would be the loudest hit in the outburst. It would also be the team's last hit of the game.
Merrimack responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning thanks in part to the River Hawks only error of the day.
Merrimack last gasp at a ninth inning rally was snuffed out by a diving catch by centerfielder sophomore
Geoff DeGroot (Wesley Chapel, Fla.)
“It was an all out dive,” says Harring. “It saved the game.”
Senior
Mike Sloban (Merrimac, Mass.) picked up the save with a shutout ninth.
The River Hawks take to the road for a single game at Dominican College in Orangeburg, N. Y. Thursday before returning home for a Saturday (12:00pm) doubleheader against Saint Anselm College.
