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Baseball: Purple Knights Fall at UMass Lowell

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Created on Saturday, 21 April 2012 02:02

Written by George Commo

Former Mt. Abe Eagle Chad Estey Records 100th Career Hit

Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information

LOWELL, Mass. - Saint Michael's College freshman Will Corkum (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) limited regionally-ranked University of Massachusetts at Lowell to one run during the first 5.1 innings on Friday during an eventual 4-0 Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division loss at LeLacheur Park. Senior Chad Estey (New Haven, Vt./Mount Abraham Union) ripped his 100th career hit for the Purple Knights, now 9-21 overall and 2-10 in the division.

The River Hawks, who are fifth in this week's New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) poll, improved to 21-14-1 and 5-6. The teams play again tomorrow in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.

Estey, senior Tim McDonnell (Durham, N.H./Oyster River) and sophomores Nick Nelson (Spofford, N.H./Keene) and Chris Puliafico (Sharon, Mass./Sharon) each had hits for the Purple Knights, while Corkum yielded three earned runs on five hits in six innings and took the loss. Freshman Barry Maily (Moosup, Conn./Plainfield) tossed two shutout frames of relief, and classmate Don McGuirl (Warwick, R.I./Saint Sebastian's School) dropped two sac bunts. First-year Nicky Elderton (Shelburne, Vt./Rice Memorial) walked twice.

Freshman Jimmy Ricoy (Lowell, Mass.) was 2-for-3 for UMass Lowell, while junior Zach Berger (Coral Gables, Fla.) drove in two runs. Senior Tyler Toyfair (Agawam, Mass.) earned the win, pitching the minimum five innings while yielding three hits and striking out four.

Corkum pitched around a leadoff triple in the first inning before his squad challenged for the game's first run in the third inning. Estey and McDonnell rapped consecutive singles to begin the frame, with the knock the 100th of Estey's career, before McGuirl put down his first sacrifice bunt, but back-to-back groundouts ended the threat.

The River Hawks manufactured a run in the home half, as freshman Jacob O'Keefe (Wellington, Fla.) led off with a single, stole second before moving to third on an ensuing error, and scored on classmate Geoff DeGroot's (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) sac fly. Saint Michael's put two on with two out in the fourth and two more aboard with one down in each the fifth and sixth but came away empty. UMass Lowell pulled away with three runs on two hits in the sixth, as Ricoy's one-out RBI double was followed by Berger's two-run single.

Elderton walked with one down in the eighth, Puliafico reached on an error, and Nelson singled to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate, but the River Hawks turned an inning-ending double play.