Baseball: A Sure Sign Of Spring As Eagles Split With Rams On Opening Day

Rich Lizotte went a combined 2 for 3, scoring two runs and earned a one-inning save as the Eagles split Sunday in their season openers.

Winter Haven, FL – Sophomore Rich Lizotte (West Warwick, R.I.) had two hits including the eventual game-winning RBI single and added a one-inning save while junior right-hander Kory Kiro (Goffstown, N.H.) went five innings allowing two earned runs on four hits and the Daniel Webster College baseball team opened its 2011 campaign with a 3-2 victory over Framingham State before dropping game two of a doubleheader, 11-2 Sunday at Chain Of Lakes Park.

Kiro (1-0) struck out four and walked two and Chris McKenzie (Burlington, Mass.) added a run-scoring single as the Eagles (1-1) rallied with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning after the Rams (1-2) had forged ahead 2-1 with two runs in the top of the frame.

Lizotte struck out two with a perfect seventh for his first save.

Chris Blydell and Corey Ketterer knocked in single runs for Framingham while Ryan Stoller took the loss (0-1).

Lizotte had helped give the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third leading off with a single, advancing on a wild pitch, and later scored on an error as part of a McKenzie fielder's choice.

Blydell notched a RBI double and later scored on a Ketterer single for a the 2-1 Framingham lead setting up the Eagles rally in the bottom of the fifth.

In the nightcap, DWC jumped ahead 1-0 in the top of the first on an Elliot Kilgore (Milford, N.H.) single that scored Josh Chasse (Haverhill, Mass.), who had two hits.

But the Rams answered with two in the bottom of the first and broke the game open with a five-run third and four-run fourth.

Adam Southwell (Marlborough, N.H.) added a RBI single that scored Zach Cantor (Windham, Maine), who doubled in the fourth for the Eagles' second run.

Blydell and Ketterer again paced Framingham, finishing with three hits each.

Korey LeLievre (Hudson, N.H.) took the loss (0-1) for DWC while Thomas Lindberg (1-0) earned the victory.

The Eagles get back into action on Monday facing Gallaudet College in a doubleheader in Auburndale, Fla. beginning at 1:30 p.m.