Worcester, Mass. (April 2) -- In a spirited home opener on Wednesday afternoon, the Assumption College baseball team dropped a back-and-forth 6-5 final to Stonehill College in Northeast-10 divisional action on Wednesday afternoon.

After a scoreless first inning, Assumption took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second.  Junior Greg O'Donnell (Northbridge, Mass./Northbridge) started off the inning with a single to center field, followed by a double to right field from freshman Mike Coggeshall (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) that allowed O'Donnell to advance to third. After a fielding error by the Skyhawks, senior Michael Smith (Old Lyme, Conn./Old Lyme) reached first and O'Donnell scored the first run for the Greyhounds for the 1-0 lead. Freshman Matt Murphy (Wakefield, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) stepped up to the plate for a two-RBI single up the middle, scoring both Smith and Coggeshall for the 3-0 advantage.

The Skyhawks answered back with two runs in the top of the third against Assumption's starting pitcher Kevin O'Connor (Leominster, Mass. /Leominster), who finished the game with seven innings pitched while scattering nine hits with six runs allowed (four earned). In the top of the fifth, the Skyhawks tallied a trio of runs that included homers by Eric Schneider and Billy Karalis for a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the frame. Stonehill nearly added a sixth run in the inning, but Christian Baglini was thrown out at the plate by senior Bret Clark (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Central) to preserve the two-run margin.

Clark led off the bottom of the inning with a single out to left field, followed by a double to right center by senior Ysander Figueroa (Worcester, Mass. /Worcester Tech). After Clark was caught in a run down between third and home plate later in the inning, the Hounds eventually added a pair of runs as O'Donnell drove in sophomore Colin Clancy (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) and Figueroa with a two-RBI double to center to tie the game at five.

After a scoreless sixth inning, Karalis added his second home run of the game with one out to put the Skyhawks ahead by a 6-5 lead as the Hounds had three innings to tie the game. Freshman Nick Fenuccio (Keene, N.H./Keene) relieved O'Connor in the top of the eighth as he went the final two scoreless innings and allowed just one run for the Hounds. O'Connor picked up the loss to drop to 1-1 on the season, while Steve Pike improved to 2-0 with a two-inning scoreless relief appearance. In addition, Armand Rugel worked the ninth for the Skyhawks as he allowed a pair of base runners before picking up his team-high fifth save of the season.

O'Donnell finished the game 3-for-4 with one run scored and two runs batted in, while Murphy and Figueroa each had two hits in the 11-hit attack. Karalis paced the Skyhawk offense with a 3-for-5 day with three runs scored, three RBI and two home runs.

Assumption falls to 6-7 overall and 2-3 in Northeast-10 play with the loss, while Stonehill improved to 14-10 overall and 4-3 in the league.

Assumption is back in action on Thursday, April 3rd as the Hounds travel to Merrimack College for a 3:30 p.m. start in North Andover.

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