Late-Game Fireworks Fail to Fall Lancers Way

SANFORD, Fla. – Both of Worcester State's baseball games against Ripon Sunday evening came down to the last pitch, and in each contest, Worcester State found themselves on the losing end as the Lancers dropped a doubleheader to the Red Hawks at Sanford Memorial Stadium.

Ripon (2-2) took the first game by a 6-5 score, holding off a late Worcester State rally, and then walked off against the Lancers (2-3) by an 11-10 score in a wild nightcap.

Game 1: Ripon 6, Worcester State 5

Worcester State put together a ninth inning rally, scoring four times in their final at-bat, but fell just short of a comeback in the first game of the day.

Thomas DiBattista (Hudson, Mass.) had three hits, including an RBI single up the middle in the ninth to pull the Lancers back within a run. DiBattista was also the first Lancer to break through against Ripon starter Brock Warren, who threw the first five and two-thirds of his appearance without allowing a hit.

Senior Joey Zawisza (Newington, Conn.) threw six innings of four-hit ball, allowing only one unearned run while striking out six, but suffered his first loss of the season (1-1).

The Red Hawks loaded the bases in the top of the seventh and pushed across three runs to take a 4-0 lead. Brock Warren drove a sacrifice fly to center to score Cam Stampfl before Sam Ott plated two more runs with a single up the middle.

Worcester State got on the board in the bottom of the frame with an unearned run after back to back singles by Chris Ausiello (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and Sean Devin (Lynn, Mass.), who came around to score on a throwing error.

A pair of runs in the top of the eighth helped Ripon extend their lead again.

The first five Lancers in the bottom of the ninth reached base safely, as they loaded the bases for RBI singles by Joey Rogato (Methuen, Mass.) and Sean Whitney-Dutton (Leominster, Mass.).

Tyler Smith (Leominster, Mass.) drove in a run with a fielder's choice, but a great defensive play on a pop fly by Trent Balian (Lynnfield, Mass.) possibly saved the game for Ripon.

Brett Tetzlaff came on in relief of Warren, who was charged with five runs over 8+ innings.

Brendan O'Shea (Methuen, Mass.) was one of three relievers used by the Lancers, throwing a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout. 

Game 2: Ripon 11, Worcester State 10

An absolutely wild affair saw the two teams combine for 24 hits and 11 errors, along with huge swings of momentum.

The Lancers built on their ninth inning rally from the first game by scoring five runs in the top of the first. They then fell behind after a four-run fifth inning by the Red Hawks and rallied to tie the game with four in the eighth, only to have Ripon walk off in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Ott.

The five-run rally in the first benefited from three Ripon errors, as well as RBI hits from Mike Chaves, Jr. (Hudson, Mass.) and Anthony Iamarone (Providence, R.I.), who was one of four players with multi-hit games.

Tom Halliwell (Leominster, Mass.) was 2-3 with two runs scored and a run-scoring double in the top of the fourth to make it 6-4 Ripon, but the Hawks scored a run in the fourth, four in the fifth and one in the seventh to extend the lead to 10-6.

Worcester rallied late for the second game in a row, tying the game at ten when Halliwell stole home.

DiBattista scored three runs and stole a base, while Halliwell swiped a pair of bags. Iamarone was 2-5 with two runs scored.