Boston College Athletics
Boston College
UMass
Baseball Beats UMass 11-10 In 12 Innings
April 26, 2006 | Baseball
April 26, 2006
Chestnut Hill, Mass. - Pete Frates blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to power Boston College past UMass, 11-10, at Shea Field in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
One night after depositing a homer into the bullpen at Fenway Park in the Beanpot Championship, the junior centerfielder was a hero again, crushing a Dave Sullivan pitch over the right field wall, giving the Eagles the win in a game that saw five lead changes.
Johnny Ayers led off the BC first with a triple to right field and the Eagles quickly had runners on the corners after Ryan Hutchinson was hit by a pitch. Jared McGuire put BC on the board with a single through the left side to score Ayers. Shawn McGill sent Hutchinson across with a single of his own, and Eric Campbell gave the home team a 3-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to center.
After being set down in order in the first, UMass battled back in the bottom of the second. The Minutemen used five RBI singles, a sacrifice fly and a BC error to take a 7-3 lead.
Down four runs, the Eagles loaded the bases in the bottom of the third via two walks and a Campbell single. After Robert Dittrich was hit by a pitch to make the score 7-4, Frates followed with a bunt single to score Campbell as Ayers followed, forcing home a run with a walk to cut the deficit to one run. An infield single by Hutchinson tied the score at 7-7 and McGuire gained the lead for a second time with a sacrifice fly to right.
Neither team pushed any runs across until the seventh when the Minutemen struck for three. Nick Tempesta laced a two-RBI single and advanced to third on a throw to the plate. Bill Rankin then drove in Tempesta with an infield single to give UMass a two-run lead.
Ryne Reynoso hit a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to put the Eagles within one run and in the ninth the Eagles manufactured another to tie the game. Dave Preziosi led off the inning with a walk, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt from McGill, Campbell tied the game with a clutch single to right field.
The Eagles used some strong efforts out of the bullpen from the usual suspects, Matt Meyer and Kevin Boggan, as well as Preziosi, who tossed the last three innings to set up the clincher from Frates and earn his first win of the season.BC is now 5-1 in extra inning games in 2006.
The Eagles begin a three game series with No. 5 Georgia Tech on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
