Nighthawks Outlast Baseball In Extra Innings
Brocton, Mass.- Shortstop Russell DeMatties (Hamden, CT/Hamden) lined his first homerun of his collegiate career off the left field foul pole, to drive in centerfielder Kyle Schiavone (Wethersfield, CT/Wethersfield) for the walk-off, 8-6, win in the bottom of the 10th inning against Becker College.
DeMatties had a solid game for the Nighthawks going 4-for-6 with two RBIs and three runs scored as well as helped sparked a four run bottom of the third inning which Newbury batted around. After right fielder Matthew Clawson (Tolland, CT/Tolland) reached first on a fielding error by the third baseman DeMatties sent him to third on a base hit into left. He plated the Nighthawks second run two batters later on a wild pitch. Following a strike out by left fielder Michael Dean (Wethersfield, CT/Wethersfield) for the first out and a hit batter, first baseman Alex Chetelat (Farmington, CT/Farmington) lifted a fly ball to left to drive in Joseph Herer (Needham, MA/Needham). Newbury kept the pressure on the Hawks pitching as Schiavone singled to right to drive in catcher Patrick Curry (Hampstead, NH/Pinkerton Academy) to give the Nighthawks the 4-0 advantage.
Newbury added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth when Clawson led off the inning, once again, with a base hit into right field and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He moved up to third on a single by DeMatties and scored on a chopper in front of the plate by Herer. De Matties came across to score the sixth and final run of the inning as Curry reached on a fielding error by the Becker shortstop.
Despite a strong pitching performance from starter Jorge Pimentel (Winsted, CT/The Gilbert School), Becker was not going to be denied. The Hawks got to Pimentel in the top of the sixth for four runs. Catcher Kyle Beede (Auburn, MA/Auburn) broke up a string of five straight retired by the Newbury pitcher with a single up the middle to lead off the top of the inning. Left fielder Eric Lajoie (Oakham, MA/Quabbin Regional) and shortstop Keith Kandel (Fresno, CA/Edison) followed with back-to-back base hits to load the bases. Two batters later second baseman Austin Phillips (Thomson, GA/Thomson) put the Hawks on the board with a ground-ball to second, driving in Beede and sending Kandel to second and Lajoie to third. First baseman Weston Meehan (Thomson, GA/Thomson) capped off the inning a three-run homerun into right fielder as the Hawks inched their way closer, 6-4. They would get a run back in the top of the seventh before tying up the contest in the ninth.
With the win the Nighthawks improve to 3-6 in the conference and 5-18 overall while the Hawks fall to 9-12 overall and 5-4 in the NECC. Newbury returns to the diamond on Wednesday when they travel to Anna Maria for a double-header, first pitch is at 2:00pm.
