The Beacons began their conference schedule against sister school and bitter rival, UMASS Dartmouth. The Beacons have always seemed to play well against the Corsairs but have failed to secure a victory. The team would need a stellar performance from staff ace Mike DiLalla against Dartmouth’s ace, Brandon Perry if they were going to compete.
DiLalla took the mound determined to pitch well and that’s exactly what he did after escaping from a rocky first inning in which two runs scored and put the Beacons in a hole early. The right-hander bounced back after the shaky start and did not allow another run to score. In the end DiLalla threw a complete game, scattering eight hits, allowed 2 runs, struck out three, and walked two on his way to a 3-2 victory and his first win of the season. DiLalla’s record now stands even at 1-1 as he awaits his next start that should come against Eastern Connecticut State, one of the top division III teams in the nation.
The Beacons scored in the fifth inning with runners on the corners when Eddie Stish stole second base and Adam Waxman took advantage of the Corsairs confusion on defense to score and make the score 2-1. During the play Stish alertly came around to third base and put the Beacons in an ideal situation to tie the game with a man on third and one out. Jason Burch was at the plate and hit a fly ball to centerfield but the UMD outfielder made a good throw on the shallow sacrifice fly attempt and the inning was over.
In the eighth inning UMB started to take advantage of some poor defense by the Corsairs. Mike McGonagle lead off the inning and reached base on an error by the second baseman, which he followed by stealing second base to get himself in to scoring position for Eddie Stish. Stish has shown himself to be one of the best clutch hitters on the team this season and he came through once again, this time with a terrific sacrifice bunt to put McGonagle on third base. Jason Burch made that bunt pay off with a single to right field that tied the game before he was thrown out trying to steal second base. Mike Yagmin and Kevin Conway tried to get things going with two outs by coming through with back-to-back singles but the inning ended with a ground out and the game still in a tie.
After retiring UMD in order the Beacons came to the plate swinging in the top of the ninth. Johnny Ingalls hit a hard grounder to the shortstop who failed to make the play and was followed by a sharp single off the bat of Jon Tekela. This brought clean up hitter Adam Waxman to the plate with runners on first and second and nobody out. Waxman has come through with big hits all season but failed in this instance and was coerced into a 6-4-3 double play that left Ingalls on third base and put the pressure on fellow captain Mike McGonagle. McGonagle came through by ripping a double and putting the Beacons up to stay.
In game two the Beacons were optimistic with Marco Acosta on the mound and one win already under their belts. Acosta threw the ball well in his eight innings of work in which he gave up four earned runs on seven hits and struck out two. Despite that solid performance, Acosta was victimized by a couple of questionable balk calls that scored runs and some key errors to take the loss 6-2. Bright spots in the game included two hits each for Jon Tekela, Joe Maus, and Mike McGonagle and three hits for Adam Waxman.
The Beacons lost to Eastern Nazarene 20-11 and then were swept by Eastern Connecticut State, 13- 3 and 17-4. The team’s record currently stands at 3-11-1.The Beacons will be on the road over the weekend, taking on Worcester State on Friday April 12, Plymouth State College for two games on Saturday April 13, and Southern Maine on Sunday April 14.