The Beacons sit in third place in the Little East Conference lineup, with a 9–3 conference record, only trailing Eastern Connecticut State at 9–1 and UMass Dartmouth, who are undefeated at 10–0, per littleeast.com (1). The Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth made their way to campus Tuesday, April 23 (2).
UMass Boston sent out right-hander Ethan Hunt against Aidan Newhall of UMass Dartmouth. Both teams’ bats started off hot to begin the match, with UMass Dartmouth delivering the first blow and scoring one run in the first inning. However, the Beacons responded with a two-run bomb from Aidan Blake, tallying three total runs of their own.
A sacrifice fly from Brandon Gaer in the fifth inning drove in the first of six unanswered runs from UMass Boston, off shoddy fielding from UMass Dartmouth. Although, the Corsairs responded in the eighth with four runs of their own, shrinking the Beacons’ lead to 10–7.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Beacons added two more runs for insurance, following more miscues on the defensive end by the Corsairs and winning the game 12–7, according to Beacons Athletics. UMass Boston picked up a pivotal LEC victory, keeping the quest for the one-seed and home-field advantage in the LEC tournament alive (3).
The following day, Wednesday, April 24, the Beacons traveled to Babson College to take on the Beavers, who were having an excellent season at 18–9. The game started with senior Logan Lawrence on the bump for the Beacons and sophomore Connor Doan of Babson. UMass Boston dropped three runs in the second inning and had to crawl up a mountain that only got steeper. Freshman Elliot Miles drove in their first run in the fourth inning, a single to left field that brought in Mike Meagher.
The Beavers tacked on another run in the fifth and three runs in the eighth, and UMass Boston couldn’t catch up to Babson, losing 7–3 in a tough match, per Beacons Athletics (4).
The final game in their weekday slate of games was Thursday, April 25 against the Endicott Gulls, who were the number one team in NCAA Division III. UMass Boston knew they had a lot on their plate with this matchup. The last time these two met was the second game of the year March 2, where Endicott scored four runs in the fifth inning and the Beacons just couldn’t catch up, losing 5–1 (1).
They sent out junior right-hander Ross Dexter to start their revenge campaign. He went six innings, striking out four batters and allowing six hits.
The Gulls went up 2–0 in the third, and the Beacons chipped away at the lead in the fourth and fifth, tying the game 2–2, heading to the top of the sixth. However, that was all UMass Boston could muster, and Endicott stacked up eight more runs in the final three innings, showing the Beacons why they’re the best team in the country for Division III (5).
After their 10–2 loss, UMass Boston should look forward to a quick two-game homestand Tuesday, April 30 against Plymouth State and Wednesday, May 1, where they’ll be taking on Amherst College. Afterwards, they head to Newport, R.I., for their last game of the regular season against the Salve Regina Seahawks Thursday, May 2 (1).
- https://littleeast.com/standings.aspx?path=baseball
- https://beaconsathletics.com/sports/baseball/schedule
- https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2024/4/23/baseball-secures-crucial-lec-home-victory-against-corsairs-of-umass-dartmouth.aspx
- https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2024/4/24/baseballs-late-push-against-babson-falls-just-short.aspx
- https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2024/4/25/softball-baseball-drops-road-matchup-to-no-1-team-in-diii.aspx
