Box Score Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Western New England baseball team defeated UMass Boston 5-3 Wednesday afternoon (Apr. 6) in a battle of last year's NCAA Division III New England Tournament participants.

The Golden Bears are now 18-6 while the Beacons drop to 6-11. Last May, UMass Boston captured both the Little East and NCAA Regional Tournament titles.

Senior Zach Cloft (Glastonbury, CT) pitched six-and-a-third innings to gain his third win of the year in four decisions. He allowed three hits, two runs, walked two, and struck out eight.

Both teams struggled getting only five hits and making four errors apiece.

The Golden Bears took advantage of a costly Beacons' error in the fourth to score a pair of runs on sacrifice flies by senior center-fielder Andrew Fatse (Hampden, MA) and junior first baseman Mike Taylor (Andover, MA) to take a 3-2 lead they never lost.

UMass Boston scored an unearned run in the eighth to get within 5-3 before junior Mike Lawlor (Windsor, CT) got the final four outs for his third save of the season.

Sophomore left-fielder Nick Grassetti (Agawam, MA) had a RBI single and junior third baseman Mike Mattei (Spencer, MA) a sacrifice fly in the third to give the visitors a short-lived 2-1 advantage,

Western New England took a 1-0 lead in the first when senior third baseman Tony Trubia (Tolland, CT) singled home sophomore left-fielder Matt Anthonis (Guilford, CT) who led off with a walk and moved to third on a grounder and fly out.