Lynn, MA- On a rainy and raw night at Fraser, the Falcons baseball team made history by defeating the College of Saint Joseph's (11-11) 12-1 in a shortened 7-inning game. The rainy conditions had an impact on the contest as the Falcons earned the 12 runs on just four hits. The Saints pitching staff had trouble with control early on, giving up 14 walks and throwing nine wild pitches leading to the majority of the Falcons scores. A combined pitching effort from the Falcons staff held the Saints to just three hits while striking out seven to help their team to their 38th victory.
After a 1-2-3 inning from Falcons starter Randolf Flores (Brooklyn, NY), Fisher got on the scoreboard first after Ivan Rivera (Brooklyn, NY) earned his 18th walk of the season and scampered to second a pitch later on a wild pitch to Mitchell Lundholm (Plymouth, MA). A Saints miscue and a stolen base for Lundholm put runners at second and third with two outs. Saints starter Jeremy Johnson then hurled another wild pitch allowing Rivera to score and moved Lundholm up to third. Another Saints error allowed Lundholm to score and Fisher would take the 2-0 lead to the second. Flores pitched another three-up, three-down inning in the second and the Falcons would break it open in the bottom of the frame, scoring five runs on a pair of hits from Jorge Sanchez (Caguas, PR) and Lundholm. After a pair of walks to Ismael Perez (Brooklyn, NY) and Reynaldo Mejia (Lawrence, MA) to start the inning, Sanchez smacked a single to left scoring Perez. Rivera drew his second walk of the game loading them up for Lundholm who tagged Johnson with a rope to right that was inches from clearing the fence bringing his season RBI total to 74 and the Falcons would lead 7-0 after two full.
Both teams went quietly in the third inning as Flores continued to dominate, allowing just one hit over his three innings of work. The Falcons got on the board again in the 4th as the Saints starter ran into control issues, giving up five walks, four wild pitches, and a single to Ismael Tatis (Methuen, MA) putting the home team up 10-0 after four innings. John Hilcher (Bloomfield, NJ) and Yamil Delgado (Caguas, PR) kept the Saints off the scoreboard in the 4th and 5th, but the Saints were able to put a notch on the scoresheet in the top of the 6th off a sac fly from William Leino to make it 10-1. Fisher grabbed another pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame, led by a Sami Bibovic (Brooklyn, NY) single to left giving the home team a 12-1 lead heading to the 7th. Wesley Lopez (Caguas, PR) came in out of the bullpen to get the last three outs of the game, including a pair of strikeouts to secure the 12-1 victory. Delgado earns the win out of the bullpen, his third of the year, allowing just one baserunner.
The Falcons will finish up the regular season on the road as they face off against the Talladega College Tornadoes (22-20) in doubleheader action on Monday and Tuesday. They will then await the playoff seedings as they will lead to Georgia Gwinett for the AII playoffs.