The Coast Guard Academy (24-16 overall) defeated the Suffolk University Baseball team (29-14 overall) by a 7-2 margin on Saturday afternoon as part of the ECAC Division-III New England Baseball Tournament. Senior Nate Toll (Olney, Md.) scattered five hits over seven innings of work on the mound for the Bears in the victory as they advance to Sunday's championship game against MIT.
Senior Tyler Babkiewich (Golden, Col.) doubled to right center with two outs in the top of the third inning with the go-ahead runs at the time to make it a 3-2 ballgame. Those two runs would hold up as the winning runs in the contest as the Bears pitching held the Suffolk offense from there on out. Babkiewich knocked in senior Eric Gerken (Tampa, Fla.) and sophomore Matt Hanks (Chesapeake, Va.) who began the two out rally with a walk and hit by pitch.
Senior Cameron Carroll (Reno, Nev.) added some insurance in the ninth inning as the Bears once again struck with two outs in an inning. Carroll crushed a hanging breaking ball for his first home run of the year, a three-run blast.
Senior Chris Stanley (Placentia, Calif.) picked up Suffolk's lone RBI of the day as he drove in the first run of the game with a single through the left side in the home half of the first. Stanley finished the day 2-for-4 as he singled to right to lead off the ninth, in his final college at-bat. Stanley rounds out a four-year career at Suffolk with 185 total hits that places him eighth all-time in program history.
Junior Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) collected a pair of hits and scored a run on the day for Suffolk. Cintolo finishes the season with a team-high 68 hits bringing his three-year career total to 206.
Suffolk sophomore starter Josh Desai (Shrewsbury, Mass.) struggled with his command on the mound as he issued nine free passes on the day via six walks and three hit batsman. Desai only allowed four hits through eight innings of work while also striking out seven.
Sophomore Cal Carroll (Methuen, Mass.) pitched the ninth inning for Suffolk. It was his 18th appearance of the year, a new Suffolk single-season mark.
Senior relievers Curt Barrett (Bremen, Ga.) and Tyler Vieira (Dumfries, Va.) each worked a scoreless frame over the final two innings for the Coast Guard Academy.
The Bears entered the tournament as the number five seed and advanced to Saturday's game after defeating Husson University, 3-1 on Thursday.
They will move to Sunday's championship game with the number three MIT Engineers who defeated Elms College, 12-0 in the other semifinals contest played on Saturday afternoon. Both the Engineers and Bears are members of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC). The Coast Guard Academy won two of three matchups between the two teams earlier this season.
Suffolk rounds out the 2013 campaign with a 29-14 record. They entered the seven-team ECAC tournament field as the number one seed.