BOXSCORE
Senior Steve Locke (Oxford, NY/Oxford) continued his hot streak winning his fourth straight decision and shutdown Eastern Connecticut State University late Friday night and early Saturday morning to lead The College at Brockport Baseball team to a 6-3 win at the NCAA New York Regional in Auburn. The game, that did not start until almost 11 pm Friday ended just after 2:30 am Saturday with Brockport (30-13) moving on to possibly the final day of the NCAA Regional avenging an earlier loss to Eastern Connecticut.
The Warriors (34-13) defeated Brockport in the opening game of the double-elimination tournament 2-0 Wednesday but the two teams faced off again Friday night in an elimination game as each team had one loss. Eastern Connecticut had lost a 7-6 decision that started Thursday night but was suspended due to rain and finished at 9 am Friday morning. Brockport used a 6-2 win over SUNY Farmingdale earlier Friday to advance to the Eastern Connecticut game.
With the win over Eastern Connecticut, Brockport will face Cortland in another elimination game Saturday at 1 pm. The winner must defeat Keystone College twice to advance to the Division III College World Series.
Against Eastern Connecticut, the Golden Eagles jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after Max Zimmerman (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville North) was hit by pitch with two outs in the inning bringing up designated hitter Anthony Siracusa (Auburn, NY/Auburn) who sent a blast off the left centerfield wall for a double chasing Zimmerman all the way home for the early lead.
The Warriors took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning stringing together three hits including a pair of doubles but Brockport answered in the fourth to tie the score when Max Keado (Troy, NY/Catholic Central) drew a bases loaded walk to tie the score.
In the fifth inning Brockport opened up the game pushing across four runs to take a 6-2 advantage. Siracusa led off the inning with a single and Mike Weakley (Liverpool NY/Liverpool) followed with a single. After an Eastern Connecticut pitching change, Zach Prentice (Auburn, NY/Auburn) singled to load the bases. Tom McCormick (Utica, NY/Notre Dame) grounded to the shortstop with one out but the ball went through the legs of the fielder scoring two runs and Mike Goldstein (Slingerlands, NY/Guilderland) followed with a single to left field to chase home another run.
Jake Coleman (Hilton, NY/Hilton) singled to load the bases again and keep the inning alive and Keado followed with a groundout that forced home the fourth run of the inning with McCormick scoring to give Brockport the 6-2 lead.
Locke kept the Warriors at bay allowing just two hits over the next three innings to maintain a lead. Eastern Connecticut scored once in the seventh with a double and a fielding error and threatened in the ninth but could not score to close the gap.
Mike DeGregory (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville) led the Golden Eagles with three hits while Siracusa, Prentice and Goldstein added two hits each. Keado knocking in two runs, Prentice scored twice and DeGregory had two stolen bases.
Locke went 7 1/3 innings allowing seven hits and three earned runs walking two and striking out five for the Golden Eagles.
