UMass Nine Spoils LaCivita Show With 11th-Inning Comeback Win

The heroics of Crimson second baseman Ric LaCivita went to waste yesterday afternoon at UMass in Amherst, as the Minutemen pulled out a wild 11-10 victory in the eleventh inning.

In a game that mattered only for the record books, LaCivita went wild at the plate, going five for six with two home runs, seven runs batted in, a stolen base and three runs scored. The team pounded out 12 hits altogether, as it compiled a 10-6 lead heading into the ninth inning.

But UMass had a couple of heroes of its own as Rick Hanson and Jerry Mondalto each rapped a pair up into the stiff breeze that carried out of the ballpark. Mondalto's second blast came in the ninth, driving in three to tie up the game at ten.

Harvard bounded out to a 5-0 lead after one-and-a-half innings as LaCivita drove in four of the runs. His single in the first sent shortstop Ed Durso across the plate and his first circuit clout of the afternoon drove in Durso and Dan Williams, both of whom drew walks. The other run scored as LaCivita came in on a Dave St. Pierre grounder that the UMass shortstop bobbled.

The Minutemen struck for a pair of runs in the bottom of the second and one more in the third off Crimson starter Keith Butler. Butler hurled five full innings, allowing only four runs. Ace third base coach and relief pitcher Tom Pura took over for Butler in the sixth with the basepaths clogged and just one out.

LaCivita

Pura got out of the inning with the help of a double play. By then, the Crimson had built up a solid 9-4 margin as LaCivita struck again in the fourth and sixth innings. The second baseman scored the only run in the fourth and homered for two more in the sixth. Leigh Hogan tallied the ninth run on a St. Pierre base hit.

The LaCivita show ended in the seventh as his fifth hit drove in Williams. By then it was 10-4 and the Minutemen looked like they were headed for defeat.

But UMass touched Pura for two runs in the eighth and four in the ninth on Pete Backstrom's double and the four-bagger by Mundalto. With one out in the tenth and the ducks on the pond for the Minutemen, pinch designated hitter Oscar Fontaine rapped a single to hand Pura the loss.

Deciding Doubleheader

The squad plays Springfield today in a single game to tune up for the allimportant doubleheader with Penn tomorrow in Philly that will decide the Eastern League champion. If Harvard wins both, the squad will face Princeton in a playoff for the title. Otherwise Penn wins it all.