Click here to view original article, written by KEN LIPSHEZ, Special to the Press Herald
MANSFIELD, Conn. - The NCAA Division III New England regional has come to an end for Bowdoin and St. Joseph's -- both at the hands of Western New England College.
Bowdoin was sent packing by the Golden Bears with a 7-1 loss in Friday's first game at Eastern Connecticut State University. Second-seeded St. Joseph's stayed alive in the double-elimination regional with a 6-1 win over Keene State in the second game, then dropped a 4-0 verdict to WNEC in an evening elimination game.
The Monks, champions of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, finished their season at 39-7. Bowdoin, an at-large selection from the New England Small College Athletic Conference, closed its season at 26-20.
WNEC left-hander Jeff Richardson (3-1) held the Monks to five hits in a route-going effort. He used a slow curveball to keep the hitters off balance, racking up nine strikeouts and walking just two.
"What impressed me early was his command of that breaking ball," St. Joseph's Coach Will Sanborn said. "He hides the ball really well."
The game began ominously for the Monks.
Nate Martin led off with a single and took second on a sacrifice but went no further.
WNEC bunched a walk and three successive hits in the bottom of the first for a 2-0 lead. Tim Clark and Taylor Perun had RBI singles.
Alex Lorenc started the second with a double for St. Joseph's but was stranded at third.
Nick Whittaker (6-1) settled down after his bumpy first inning, but with his pitch count mounting, the Golden Bears added two runs in the fifth.
Matt Anthonis, leading the tournament in hits, lashed a one-out double. Clark (3 for 3, walk) contributed his second RBI single, and Mike Taylor belted a run-scoring double into the right-field corner.
Whittaker allowed four runs on eight hits, walked three and struck out four in five innings. Tyler Laverriere tossed three scoreless innings of relief, but the Monks were unable to get their offense in gear.
St. Joseph's loaded the bases with two out in the seventh, but Martin flew out to center.
Richardson, who threw 146 pitches, set down the Monks in order in the eighth and ninth.
"He went back to the fastball more at the end and he had good velocity on it and great location," Sanborn said. "Sometimes when a guy gets rolling like that, it's tough to stop."
St. Joseph's suffered its second shutout loss of the tournament after going without one in the regular season.
The Monks staved off elimination earlier in the day behind the pitching of Lincoln Sanborn (7-0).
Sanborn went the distance against Keene State, scattering seven hits and tying a season high with 10 strikeouts. Keene State's run was unearned.
Joe Coyne and Mike Pratt had RBI hits in a two-run first inning. Three Keene errors opened the floodgates for four runs in the second.
Dan Achorn and Brandon Chase had two hits each.
Poor defense led to Bowdoin's elimination.
WNEC couldn't take advantage of two Bowdoin errors in the first inning, but two more errors in the second led to two runs. The early deficit seemed to dictate the Polar Bears' destiny.
"It kind of put us back on our heels a little bit and we just weren't able to get over the hump," Bowdoin Coach Mike Connolly said. "Their pitcher (Mark DiTommaso) did a good job of pitching out of a couple jams and made some good pitches when he had to."
DiTommaso allowed nine hits over 71/3 innings, but Bowdoin stranded 12 runners.
John Lefeber and Oliver Van Zant had two hits apiece for the seventh-seeded Polar Bears, who got their first NCAA tournament victory in school history Thursday against Southern Maine.
Starting pitcher Tim Welch (4-3) suffered the loss.
