Pittsfield Stops Boulders, 7-2

The Rockland Boulders dropped a 7-2 decision in their series finale Wednesday against the Pittsfield Colonials in Can-Am League baseball action.

The Colonials snapped a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth with five runs off Rockland’s relief pitchers in Pittsfield, MA. With the score 6-2 in favor of Pittsfield, Charlie Pagliarulo capped the inning off with a RBI single, which was the Colonials’ fifth run on three hits in the frame.

“Today we did not do fundamental things right to win a ballgame,” said Boulders manager Dave LaPoint.

The Boulders were 90-feet away from breaking the scoreless tie in the top of the fourth, but could not get Jermel Lomack home from third.  Lomack started the inning off with a single, and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Bridger Hunt that went right back to the pitcher.  Lomack reached third on a wild pitch, however, could not cross home plate as Norm Hutchins and Sean Smith both made the final two outs in the frame.

The next two innings also saw zeros go up on the scoreboard, but the Boulders finally registered the game’s first tally.  Hunt led the seventh off with a single, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Hutchins.  Smith then walked to first, followed by a Tommy Giles single to load the bases with one out.

Todd Jennings then stepped in and picked up a RBI on a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Hunt, giving the Boulders a 1-0 edge in the seventh.  Ryan Mollica followed with a RBI single to plate Smith to put the Boulders up 2-0. 

Pittsfield (4-3) tied the game in the bottom half of the seventh, which chased Rockland starter Roger Lincoln from the game after 6 1/3 innings of dominant work. 

Bill Motram’s RBI triple plated Angel Molina from second, succeeded by Scott Kanzek’s RBI blooper to right, off Boulders’ Kyle Wilson, scoring Motram.

Lincoln struck out eight in his second start for the Boulders, but Wilson is charged with his first loss after giving up five runs late in the game.  Rafael Lluberes nabbed his first win in a Colonials’ uniform striking out one over 1 1/3 innings of work.

The Boulders (4-3) are off today, but then to Upper Montclair, NJ to take on the New Jersey Jackals in a four game series that begins on Friday at 7:05 p.m. at Yogi Berra Stadium.  Jon Velasquez (0-1) gets the nod for the Boulders, while Chris Vasami (0-0) starts for New Jersey.