QUINCY, Mass. - The Curry College baseball team defeated host Eastern Nazarene, 16-15, in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC)contest Thursday afternoon at Adams Field in Quincy. In what was a scheduled doubleheader, game one went nine innings and was four hours long. The two teams were identical in errors (3) and hits (15), but the final category of note did not match up...runs, and this fell in the Colonels favor.

The two teams combined for eleven runs in just the first inning, six runs in the top half and five in the bottom half, to give the visitors a 6-5 lead. Curry slipped three more across home in the second inning as Eastern Nazarene tried to keep pace and scored two runs to make the score 9-7. The two starting pitchers, Lions’ Joe Steinwedell (La Jolla, CA) and Colonels' Chris Costa (Lynnfield, Mass.) survived the third inning without any additions to the scoreboard, but the batters took the advantage back in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings as 13 more runs were scored and the game was knotted at 15-15 until it went into extra innings, where the ninth inning produced the game-winner when two Lion infielders collided on a high pop fly on the edge of the infield, allowing the Curry runner on third, Sean Jackman (Stoughton, Mass.), to advance home for what would be the game winner. 

There was at least one runner who crossed the plate 10 of the 18 half innings and only once was there a one-two-three half inning, when relief pitcher Jared Daniels (Smithsburg, MD) accomplished the feat in the top of the sixth.  RBIs matched the run total with 31 as Curry managed to strand 14 runners on base while Eastern Nazarene did the same with 11 LOB. The game contained seven doubles, two home runs (one of these a grand slam), 20 walks and 21 strikeouts, and all of this was spread out over 10 pitchers. In the eighth, the Lions had the bases loaded with no out, but a strikeout and a ground out into a double play ended what was a golden opportunity to win the game.

Having strong days at the plate were Curry's leadoff hitter SR Tony Luciani (Weymouth, Mass.) who went 3 for 3 with 3 walks, 3 RBI and 3 runs scored.  Teammate JR Brad Hawn (Chino Hills, CA) almost did as well by going 2 for 3 with 3 walks, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Jackman went 3 for 5 with 1 walk, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored as teammate SR Tim Sweeney (Walpole, Mass.) complimented this group by going 3 for 6 with 4 RBI and a run scored.

Colonels’ SR James Page (Weymouth, Mass.) was the fortunate pitcher who came away with the win while teammate SR Cory Moore (Lynn, Mass.) earned a save. Lions’ JR Jeremy Cook (Hatfield, PA), who held the Colonels hitless over 2.2 innings of work, was charged with the loss.

Game two of the doubleheader was postponed between games due to lack of light. 

Eastern Nazarene falls to 8-7 on the season, 1-2 in the TCCC as Curry improves to 8-5, 5-0 in the TCCC.  The Lions are at Nichols College on Saturday March 27 with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 12:00 noon as the Colonels host Western New England College on the same date and time.
(Game recap courtesy of Eastern Nazarene College Sports Information)

Box Score