By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
On a chilly Thursday afternoon at Archie Allen Field, Springfield College baseball’s bats weren’t feeling any ill effects from the weather. The Pride put up 11 runs on 15 hits en route to an 11-6 win over Framingham State University.
The Pride’s offense was the story of the day. Springfield scored three runs in their half of the first inning, and didn’t have much trouble adding to its total over the course of the game.
Center fielder Chris Balchius smacked a two-run triple to tie the game at two in the first after Framingham State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Shortstop Jack Dunaisky then brought Balchius home off of a groundout to put the Pride in front – a lead they held onto for the rest of the game.
Another two-run triple, this one by catcher Dan Surette in the fourth inning, bumped Springfield’s leads to 5-2. Then, Balchius hit another RBI triple an inning later, the third three-base hit of the game for Springfield.
Framingham State cut the Pride’s lead to one run in the seventh inning, but Springfield responded with four runs in the eighth. A pair of two-run singles by Dunaisky and third baseman Nicholas Lloyd put the Pride back up by five, and paved the way for a low-stress ninth inning.
Throughout the season, the Pride have struggled with letting their foot of the gas after early offensive success. However, their constant supply of offense on Thursday was a clear departure from that pattern, something that pleased graduate assistant coach Arlo Pike, especially considering this was the Pride’s first game in a week.
“Long game; something they did really well, especially considering we haven’t played an actual game in about a week against another opponent,” Pike said. “The idea of steady pressure all game, not blocks of scoring, just chip away every inning and then coming up big late to give some insurance runs is huge.”
Pike was also glad that the Pride got contributions from up and down their lineup. Their top five of left fielder Michael Lepere, second baseman Nate Garafalo, right fielder Adam Crocker, Balchius and Dunaisky combined for 12 hits and seven runs batted in, but the aforementioned hits from Surette and Lloyd also played a key role in the team’s win.
A large part of the Pride’s success in Pike’s mind was their ability to reach base, then let the rest of the lineup drive them in.
“I think everybody was finding ways to get on base,” Pike said. “Whether that’s taking advantage of a poor throw they made or getting a walk, whatever it is. Getting on base, extending the inning. Chris and [Crocker], they hit the crap out of the ball today. They’re swinging like they want to drive a baseball and then they’re both fast. We have a good athletic team. Guys can steal bases, guys can advance, can do different things.”
Springfield used five pitchers in the game, but was boosted by four innings of two-run ball by Ryan Baker. This performance steadied the Pride after Framingham State’s bats were hot early, and gave the Pride time to build their lead.
With the win, Springfield improves to 7-14 on the season. The Pride will be back in action tomorrow afternoon on Archie Allen Field against MIT at 3 p.m.
(Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)