Baseball opens three-game set with regionally-regarded Bentley, falls by 4-0 count
COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College baseball team opened a three-game weekend set with Bentley University on Friday by falling, 4-0, at Doc Jacobs Field, yielding each of the runs in the first inning. The Purple Knights, now 9-26 overall and 2-14 in the Northeast-10 Conference's Northeast Division, host the Falcons on Saturday for a 12 p.m. doubleheader. Bentley, which is receiving votes toward both regional polls, is 24-20 and 9-6.
Saint Michael's freshman Will Corkum (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) allowed all four runs, with only one earned, before tossing 6.1 innings of shutout ball to complete his seven-frame stint. He struck out five and walked three. Senior Jesse Sullivan (Saugus, Mass./Pingree School) fired two innings of shutout relief, fanning four. Sophomore Nick Nelson (Spofford, N.H./Keene) singled and walked, and classmate Alec Tice (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) added a knock.
Junior John Yohe (Merrick, N.Y./Saint Dominic) spun the two-hit shutout for the Falcons, striking out 11 and walking two. Graduate student Bryant Johnson (Hopedale, Mass./Milford) slugged a two-run home run, sophomore Sean Keady (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) was 2-for-4 with two stolen bases and a run, and classmate Will Brennan (Locust Valley, N.Y./Locust Valley) added two hits.
Bentley scored all of the game's runs in the opening frame, with Keady walking to begin the contest before stealing second and scoring on an infield error. Senior Kevin Korwek's (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) RBI double made it 2-0, and Corkum induced a flyout before Johnson swatted a two-out, two-run home run. Over the final 8.1 innings, Corkum and Sullivan limited the visitors to a 6-for-30 showing, with two of those hits not leaving the infield.
Nelson led off the bottom of the first by sending a hard-hit ball toward the middle that Brennan, the shortstop, dove to knock down on one hop, but Nelson legged out the infield hit before an errant throw allowed him to take second. After reaching third on a one-out passed ball, he was stranded. After Nelson, Yohe retired the next 16 Purple Knights.
Corkum worked around a two-on, one-out situation in the sixth, fanning the final two batters looking, and freshman Don McGuirl (Warwick, R.I./Saint Sebastian's School) and Nelson drew consecutive one-out walks for the hosts in the bottom portion before being left on base. With Bentley runners at second and third with two down in the seventh, Korwek hit a ball toward the left-field gap, but the sinking drive was caught just before landing by diving sophomore center fielder Corey Livingston (Hartford, Conn./East Catholic).
Tice picked up his team's second hit with one down in the ninth, as the left-handed hitter slapped a ground ball down the third-base line that struck the bag. However, a strikeout and game-ending fielder's choice groundout ensued.
