RODRIGUEZ AND DAYTON LEAD SETTERS TO 8-6 WIN OVER UMASS LOWELL
PLEASANTVILLE, NY - The Pace University baseball team picked up a big NE-10 Conference victory over the River Hawks of UMass Lowell 8-6 on Sunday afternoon at Finnerty Field. The Setters are now 12-8-1 at Finnerty Field this season.
The win will improve Pace to 18-25-1 for the season, and 12-15 in the NE-10 Conference. The loss drops the River Hawks to 23-15 for the year, and 14-11 in conference play.
UMass Lowell got on the board first in the top of the first inning as the River Hawks put up a run on a hit, and an error off Pace starter Zach Dayton (North Falmouth, MA/Falmouth) (2-3) to take a 1-0 lead.
Pace responded right back in the bottom of the second inning tying the game at 1-1 on a RBI groundout by Vinny Dammann (Mullica Hill, NJ/Gloucester Catholic).
With Pace now trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning the Setters put together one of their biggest innings of the season scoring five runs to take a commanding 6-2 lead. The two big hits in the inning came on a three RBI triple by Chris Spatkowski (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern), and an RBI double by Andre Liscinsky (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull).
Dayton pitched a gem going seven innings while allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits. He struck out three and walked none in a very efficient outing. Michael Rodriguez (East Hampton, NY/East Hampton) was the star on the offensive side of the ball for Pace as he went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
The Setters had trouble closing out the River Hawks as they scored once in the seventh, once in the eighth, and twice in the ninth to make the score 8-6 Pace. UMass Lowell had the tying run at second base but Frank Luongo (West Harrison, NY/Harrison) shut the door fir his sixth save of the season.
Pace will be back in action on Tuesday, April 28 as they will be on the road to play non-conference rival Adelphi University. The game is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.
