Springfield College Baseball Completes NEWMAC West Division Sweep of Coast Guard with 11-0 Victory

Recap, photo courtesy of Springfield College

New London, Conn. - April 8, 2018 - Wrapping up a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) West Division series on Sunday afternoon, the Springfield College baseball team shut out Coast Guard en route to an 11-0 victory over the Bears on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Pride is now 17-5-2 overall with a 6-2 mark in NEWMAC play, while Coast Guard is now 6-11 on the year with a 0-8 record against league opponents. The Pride's 17 wins marks the most amount of wins out of the Springfield College baseball team since the 2014 season when it notched 21 victories.

Sophomore Shawn Babineau (Ashland, Mass.) had another strong outing for the Pride as he pitched

7.0 innings, allowing three hits while striking out four, before Cole Donovan (Holderness, N.H.) came on to get the final six outs, including a pair of strikeouts for the sophomore. Coast Guard starter Brett Sullivan (Granby, Mass.) pitched 6.0 frames, giving up three earned runs as he suffered his third setback of the season. 

At the plate, Chad Shade (Pittsfield, Mass.) went 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored in the lead off position, while Mark Joao (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. 

Springfield College got right to work in the top of the first inning as Shade opened the contest with a double, before the next batter, Jack Cooney (Pittsfield, Mass.), drove him in with a single to right to give the Pride a 1-0 advantage.

The Pride would add another run int he top of the fifth when Brandon Russo (Lisbon, Conn.) roped a two-out triple to right field, before Shade drove him in with a single to center field, making it 2-0. After a sacrifice fly from Noah Bleakley (Granby, Mass.) to score Joao pushed the Pride's advantage to three in the top of the sixth, Springfield College opened up a six-run lead, scoring three in the top of the seventh. 

Facing a new pitcher in Jack Brandt (Marlton, N.J.), Brandon Drabinski (Lisbon, Conn.) opened the frame with a double to center, before Russo drew a walk and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. After Cooney drew a walk to load the bags, Joao singled to center to plate two, before Cooney scored on a heads-up base running play from Joao, making it 6-0, Pride. 

After the Pride earned another run in the top of the eighth to make it 7-0, Springfield College closed out the game with four in the top of the ninth, including an RBI double from Logan Barrett (Petersham, Mass.), an RBI double from Cam Rivest (Agawam, Mass.) and an RBI single from Peter Marsicano (Allentown, N.J.) to clinch the 11-0 victory.

Next, the Pride will continue NEWMAC play on Tuesday, April 10 when it travels to Babson for a 3:30 p.m. contest.