Warriors Drop Season Opener Despite Firing Two-Hitter

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. ---- The Massasoit baseball team held Lackawanna College to just two hits in the Warriors season opener, but the Falcons scored all their runs in one inning to top the Warriors, 6-2 on Friday afternoon.

Massasoit (0-1) took the diamond for the first time in the 2017 season, while Lackawanna (Scranton, Pa.), a NJCAA Division II program was playing its 15^th contest, improving its record to 11-4 with the victory.

The Warriors broke a scoreless tie in the top of the second, when freshman John Tinker (Weymouth) came home to score on a two-out Falcon error hit by fellow newcomer Kyle Holmberg (Middleboro).

Massasoit starter Kasey Kirby (Dedham) was able to work out of jams in the first two frames of his collegiate debut. However, thinks went south for the freshman righty in the third. Kirby gave a solo homer to even the score, but sandwiched the long ball with a pair of outs. Control proved to be an issue as the righty walked two Falcons and hit another before Giovanni Torres hit a bases clearing double for what proved to be the game winning hit.

The righty yielded only two hits in 3.0 innings of worked, giving up six runs (five earned), but eight walks proved to be costly, falling to 0-1 on the young season.

Following the six-run third inning, the Warriors received strong relief work from Matt McGrath (Braintree) and John Rivera (Fall River). McGrath worked a scoreless frame and Rivera punched out two in two innings of work, both making their debuts in Green and White.

Massasoit tacked on a run in the top of the seventh on a RBI single by Kevin Jaynes (Brockton). The Warriors finished with four hits on the day as Lackawanna starter Logan Zavada went the first 6.0 innings, allowing only one run (unearned) off three hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks.

Joining Jaynes with singles for the Warriors, were Luis Ramirez (Dedham), Nick Andrews (Raynham) and Bryan Dwyer (Abington).