PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Castleton baseball team was eliminated from the Little East Conference Championship Tournament Thursday, suffering a 13-1 loss by UMass Boston.
Hunter Perkins led the offense with a pair of doubles, scoring the lone Castleton (18-22) run of the afternoon with Ryan Lawrence getting the RBI. Reece de Castro went 2-for-4 with a double as Brandon Ramirez also logged two hits. Tyler McLain, Evan Keegan, and Kannon Dush logged one hit apiece, bringing the Spartans' total to nine base knocks.
Starting pitcher Aubrey Ramey had a two-inning day as reliever Joseph Voli went the furthest of all four arms with 2.1 frames of work. Adam Winchell took the mound for three outs as Stephen Coffey closed the sixth, retiring two of the final three batsmen with one strikeout. The Beacons (24-17) reached on just two free bases, but amassed 16 hits and forced three miscues to plate runners in five of six offensive halves.
De Castro led off the game with a single, but McLain's sacrifice bunt failed as the Beacon catcher caught the popped-up ball in foul territory. After getting two quick outs to retire the side, UMass Boston started their offensive attack with a solo homer to snag a 1-0 lead.
The home half of the second stanza started the same way as the first, extending the gap to two. A trio of singles pushed two more across as the game entered inning three at 4-0. Castleton started to rally, beginning with Lawrence who reached on an E3. De Castro followed with a high-flying double to the right center gap, putting two in scoring position with no outs. Keegan placed a slow-rolling grounder toward third base that amazingly stayed fair for an infield single, setting up a full pond with one away but the Spartans could not convert.
Taking advantage of retaining an unblemished lead, the Beacons doubled it with a quartet of hits and two forced errors. Perkins began the top of the fourth with a bending line drive to left center for a double. Addison Schaub reached first base on a HBP, then Dush sent a single through the left side to put three aboard once again. Lawrence grounded to third base, bringing Perkins home to cut the UMB lead to 8-1. Schaub was hemmed up in a fielder's choice to the pitcher and McLain lined out to shortstop, ending the Spartans' half.
The Beacons regained an eight-run advantage with a tally in the bottom half as the defense stranded two Spartans on base in the fifth and sixth innings. Seeking insurance, UMass Boston upped the lead to 13-1 with a four-run sixth on four hits and an error.
With two outs in the seventh, Castleton started to crawl back. Ramirez, whose two-RBI double helped the Spartans take out UMass Dartmouth, delivered a single to the outfield to keep CU alive. Perkins wore a pitch to join the sophomore on base, then Schaub grounded to shortstop but an E6 allowed all three runners to reach safely. With a trio of pinch runners on the base paths, the Beacons caught the final hitter looking to advance to Day 4.
The Spartans conclude their season as the program's most successful squad since joining the LEC prior to 2019, winning 18 contests including a victory in the league tournament.
