Fitchburg gets offensive late

Falcons tally eight in final two at bats for win over McDaniel

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Ricky Graham went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored to lead Fitchburg State to a 14-8 victory over McDaniel at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in non-conference baseball action on Tuesday.

Brandon Kline (Myersville, Md./Middletown) paced the Green Terror (1-3) with a 4-for-5 performance at the plate.

With the game tied at 6-all, the Falcons (2-4) scored five times in the bottom of the seventh to earn the win.

After Graham led off with a single, a sacrifice put the go-ahead run in scoring position before Erik DiMauro followed with a double to center.

With two on and one out, Andrew Foster singled up the middle to cap the inning.

After Matthew Pace (Baltimore, Md./North County) drove in Kyle Pruitt (Berlin, Md./Stephen Decatur) to trim the deficit to four, a wild pitch and two-run Bobby Ewing double in the bottom of the eighth stretched the Fitchburg lead to 14-7.

Ray Hart’s (Cheverly, Md./Suitland) single in the top of ninth to plate Andrew Worm (Easton, Md./Easton) set the final margin.

A Russell Coover (Schuylkill Haven, Pa./Blue Mountain) RBI single in the first and RBI triple from Hart coupled with Patrick Christopher (Union Bridge, N.J./St. John Vianney) sacrifice fly in the second stake McDaniel to an early 3-0 lead.

A Graham triple and Matt Morriso sacrifice fly made it 3-1 after two innings before a squeeze play and Graham RBI single in the third evened the game.

The Falcons plated an unearned run in the fifth before four walks and a Coover sacrifice fly put the Green Terror on top by one in the sixth.

Sergio Nieto (Mameroneck, N.Y./Rye Neck) blasted a solo home run in the top of the seventh to counter a two-run bottom of the sixth to even the game for the final time.

The Green Terror returns to action against Sewanee on Wednesday. Game time is 9:30 a.m.

Score by Inning                             1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    -     R   H   E
McDaniel (1-3)                               1    2    0    0    0    2    1    1    1    -     8    13   3
Fitchburg State (2-4)                        0    1    2    0    1    2    5    3    x    -     14   17   1

Mike Freeman, Gio Fricchione (6), Dan French (8) and Ray Hart; Marshall Miller, Dylan Smith (6), Randy Ortiz (7) and Erik DiMauro, Zach Bombria (9). WP: Ortiz (1-0). LP: Fricchione (0-1). S: none. SO-BB: Freeman 3-3, Fricchione 2-0, French 0-0; Miller 3-4, Smith 0-2, Ortiz 3-1. 2B: Brandon Kline (M), Michal Merci (F), Erik DiMauro (F), Eric O’Reill (F), Bobby Ewing (F). 3B: Ray Hart (M), Ricky Graham (F). HR: Sergio Nieto (M).

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