'Blazer Men Drop the Ball Against Falcons

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NORTH ADAMS - Diant Ellis earned his ninth double-double of the season - scoring 11 points while pulling down 10 rebounds - and Shalka Rivera scored a season-high 21 points, but it wasn't enough as the visiting Falcons defeated MCLA 78-71 on Thursday night.

Fitchburg (16-7, 8-3) was lead by Tim Grashm's 21 points and 11 rebounds and Peter Uzoma's 14 points and 12 rebounds. Also in double figures for the Falcons were Brian Torres and Brian Skiffington with 17 and 14 points respectively.

Behind Grashm's 10 points in the first half, Fitchburg took a four-point lead into the break. Early in the second half, Fitchburg opened up a 16-point lead, but little by little the Trailblazers chipped away at that lead bringing the score to 53-59 with 4:45 left in the game.

Both Dave Bisesi and Rivera would both score 13 points each in the second half to keep the Trailblazers close. Then with just over a minute left to play Benny Cuprill would find Bisesi to bring the game to three points, but that would be the closest they would get for the night. Forced in a foul situation, Fitchburg converted from the line increasing the score to 78-71 and that's where the game ended.

In their final game of the season, MCLA (6-18, 1-10) will host Westfield State on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 4. Fitchburg currently sits at the top of the conference and will travel to Bridgwater State on Saturday.

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Sanford, Maine, Edges SteepleCats in Season Opener

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The SteepleCats Sunday started their 2026 season the way they ended their 2025 campaign: with a narrow loss to the Sanford Mainers.
 
Sanford, which won a best-of-three playoff series against North Adams last August, scored four runs on 14 hits to earn a 4-2 win at Joe Wolfe Field.
 
The Mainers broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run rally in the third inning, and four Sanford pitchers combined to collect 11 strikeouts as the visitors improved to 2-1 this summer.
 
North Adams, which saw its planned road opener rained out on Saturday, got to open the season in front of its home fans.
 
And those fans saw a strong performance from the North Adams pitching staff, which, despite allowing 14 hits, including five doubles, gave up just three earned runs.
 
“I like the grit,” SteepleCats coach Mike Gladu said of his team’s Game 1 performance. “I thought the pitchers performed pretty well. We had a couple of situations where we definitely should have gotten some runs in and didn’t get that hit.
 
“And there were a couple of plays with a little rust. Certainly, the ball that was hit over [Evan] Meier’s in left field, he just mistracked that one. And the extra run they scored in the eighth, the kid wasn’t going to go [from third on a fly ball], we made a throw and nobody could stop it.
 
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