BOSTON, Mass. – The Castleton baseball team dropped its first Little East Conference doubleheader against UMass Boston, falling 5-1 and 3-2 at Monan Park on Friday.
Hunter Perkins doubled twice, going 2-for-7 with a walk and a run scored. Blasting the squad's 12th homer of the season was Addison Schaub who was 2-for-7 with a walk and one RBI from the solo shot. Jackson Cardozo was the lone Castleton (6-8) batter to record hits in both games with a 2-for-8 day. Kannon Dush had a 2-for-6 performance at the plate with his fourth double of the season.
Starting pitchers Riley Orr and Aubrey Ramey each went 5.1 innings before giving way to relievers Brayden Howrigan and Stephen Coffey. All four had efficient afternoons on the mound, combining for 19 strikeouts and four walks.
Game 1: UMass Boston 5, Castleton 1
With the exception of a five-hit, four-run second inning, Orr was steadily keeping the Beacons (10-4) at bay with his first walkless outing of 2023. The senior struck out five, bumping his career total to 96. Taking over in the sixth frame, Coffey had his longest and best performance of the season with four punch-outs with a lone free pass.
Third-spot hitter Jackson Cardozo laced a single into center field for the day's first hit in the top of the first inning. Orr dominated the home half, snagging a pop-up bunt in a one-two-three frame.
An inning later, UMass Boston's bats came around as the first two batters singled, setting up a two-RBI triple to take the lead. An RBI double and an errant throw on what would have been the final out scored two more. With a runner at second base, the Beacons knocked a base hit to left field as Perkins charged quickly, firing to cutoff man Reece de Castro who found Schaub at the plate to cut down the runner at home.
After the Spartans drew two walks to set up runners on the corners with one out in the third stanza, UMB kept proceedings at 4-0 with a 4-6-3 double play. Orr breezed through the home half, then both sides stranded a runner in the fourth frame.
The Spartans cut into the Beacon lead in the sixth as de Castro wore the first pitch of the inning, stole second, and scored as Keegan grounded to the shortstop whose throw to first was off-target. The home team led off their side with a leadoff ground-rule double to right field as a line drive jumped out over the wall off the outfield turf. An RBI single forced Castleton to change pitchers as Coffey came in, working around a double to hold off the Beacons and strand two.
In the final three stanzas, Coffey limited UMB to two hits without a run but the Spartans were held to a single base runner to finalize the score at 5-1.
Game 2: UMass Boston 3, Castleton 2
Ramey fanned six Beacons with three walks, allowing just one earned run on five hits. Making his fourth relief appearance of the year, Howrigan tallied four Ks while limiting UMB to one run, one hit, and one walk.
The Beacons were first on the board, scoring on a sacrifice fly with bases loaded as Ramey left the other two runners on with back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat. In the ensuing half-inning, Perkins slugged a right-side double but the Spartans could not score him.
In the top of the third, Dush led off with a liner down the left field line for a double. Beacon pitcher Ross Dexter put out the next three bats in order to navigate out of another jam. In the bottom half, Ramey finished a nine-batter streak of retirements, starting with the first-inning sac fly, to keep the deficit at one.
Castleton closed the gap in the fourth with another Perkins two-bagger followed by a two-out RBI single from Keegan. Schaub singled to put two runners aboard with the go-ahead runner in scoring position, but Dexter fanned the next hitter to keep the score knotted at 1-1.
Striking out one with a fly out, Ramey had his streak of 11 consecutive outs ended by two singles. Just as the Beacons did in the top half, Ramey fanned the next hitter to strand a pair. The tie was broken in the fifth as UMB's Nick Farnacci roped one toward the deepest part of the park in center, rounding second as the Spartans fumbled the ball and gave the freshman just enough time to beat a relay from the outfield and score.
The Spartans nearly got the run back in the sixth as Boyle and Perkins walked while the latter was replaced by Keegan via fielder's choice. With two down, Boyle tried to swipe home on a wild pitch but the Beacon backstop made a perfect toss to pitcher Brendan Ferrari to record the third out.
Ramey logged one out before Howrigan took the reins and left the leadoff base runner 90 feet from home. Once again, the Spartans tied proceedings as Schaub sent a towering solo homer over the massive left field fence. In the home half, a leadoff walk led to an RBI single that allowed UMass Boston to retake the lead. Howrigan struck out the side in the eighth to help hold the Beacons to their second-lowest scoring output of the season, but the Spartans could not generate any more offense.
Castleton is back in action with two non-conference matchups next week. First up for the Spartans is a Tuesday, March 28 duel at RPI scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
