Springfield, Mass. — April 14, 2012 — An RBI-single by Mike McGowan in the bottom of the seventh inning gave his Springfield College baseball team a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Coast Guard Academy in the first game of a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference doubleheader this afternoon at SC’s Berry-Allen Field. In game #2, SC used big innings to win, 11-4.

With the wins, Springfield is now 14-12 overall, 8-7 in the NEWMAC. Coast Guard slips to 12-19 overall, 6-12 in the conference.

In game #1 for the Pride, senior right-hander Greg Marakovits (Rocky Hill, Conn.) picked up the victory. He gave up just two runs, one earned, and seven hits in the seven-inning complete-game win. He struck out six and walked four along the way.

For the Bears, junior Derek Petty (Parker, Colo.) also pitched a complete game, giving up eight hits and three runs. He struck out three and walked three.

Each team gave up a run in the second and fourth innings.

Junior catcher Cameron Carroll (Reno, Nev.) knocked in the game’s first run for Coast Guard.

In the bottom of the second, junior right fielder Kyle DiFranco (East Longmeadow, Mass.) tied it with a sacrifice fly to center-field.

In the CGA fourth, the Bears took advantage of an overthrow to first by the catcher, allowing a run to score, following a strikeout.

For SC, with one out in the fourth, senior dh Karl Quist (New Preston, Conn.) doubled to right. DiFranco followed that up with a single to left to tie the score at 2-all.

In the bottom of the seventh, freshman shortstop Shane O’Leary (Kings Park, N.Y.) led off with a ground-ball single to left. Freshman center-fielder Steve Starr (Lebanon, Conn.) then sacrificed O’Leary to second. After a walk, McGowan, a sophomore first baseman from Franklin, Mass., flared a single to left-center, allowing O’Leary to score the winning run.

In game #2, the man who hit the game-winner in the first game was the winning pitcher in the second game. McGowan picked up his first win of the year and is now 1-2. In six innings of work, he allowed four hits and just one run, striking out two and walking none. Freshman Tyler Benoit (North Adams, Mass.) and senior Adam DeFelice (Avon, Conn.) came on to finish up for the Pride.

Junior James Diddell (Westfield, N.J.), now 1-2, was the starter and loser for the Bears.

Springfield scored four runs in the second, three in the fifth, and four more in the seventh innings. Coast Guard scored one in the fifth, and added three in the seventh.

Junior catcher Matt Milano (Cumberland, R.I.) led SC with three hits in the nightcap, knocking in six runs, and scoring two more. Three others chipped in with two hits apiece for the home team. They were sophomore dh Steve Smith (Broken Arrow, Okla.), senior second baseman Mike Corletta (Westtown, N.Y), and sophomore left-fielder Jared Hopkins (Cranston, R.I.).

Two from CGA had two hits, junior second baseman Tyler Babkiewicz (Golden, Colo.) and junior right-fielder Nolan Gallagher (New Milford, Conn.). Gallagher knocked in two runs.

Quist knocked in the game’s first run in the second inning. Milano Corletta, and Starr also had RBI singles in that inning.

Milano had a thee-run double in the fifth, putting SC in command. Milano added a two-run single in the seventh.