Boston College Athletics
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Beanpot - Harvard
Baseball Defeats Harvard In First Round Of Beanpot
April 19, 2007 | Baseball
April 19, 2007
LYNN, Mass. - After two postponements, the Eagles and Crimson finally got to play some baseball this afternoon in the 18th annual Beanpot tournament and BC edged the Crimson 5-2 at Fraser Field in Lynn, Mass. The Eagles will play Northeastern University in the Championship to be held at Fenway Park on Wednesday, April 25. The Huskies pounded UMass earlier in the day 17-6.
Harvard would get on the board first in the bottom of the second as they would string a couple of hits off of starter Ted Ratliff to take an early 1-0 lead. The Eagles would get the run back in the bottom of the frame.
Eric Campbell would start the inning off by walking and proceed to steal second base. He would score two batters latter when Jared McGuire would hit a single to right center, tying things at 1-1. McGuire would also steal second and score on a sacrifice bunt by Joe Ayers pulling BC ahead 2-1. Peter Frates would groundout to short but Jett Ruiz would score from third, making it 3-1 Eagles.
The Crimson would get to Ratliff for another run as they collected three singles cutting the deficit to one run, 3-2. But, Ratliff would get out of the jam as he got Matt Kramer to ground into a double play, ending Harvard's rally.
The Eagles would put two runners on in the fifth as Ryan Hutchinson would reach on a bunt single and advance to second after a walk to Michael Belfiore. But, Crimson reliever Jake Bruton would get a double play ball to end the threat.
After getting to Ratliff for seven hits through the first four innings, the BC starter settled down, retiring 10 straight batters going into the eighth. Brendan Byrne led off the eighth inning with a sharp single to left but erased trying to steal second base with Matt Vance at the plate.
BC then plated some crucial insurance runs against Dan Zailskas, the eighth Harvard pitcher of the day. With two runners on, Mike Augustine chipped an 0-2 fastball into center for an RBI and McGuire following with a sacrifice fly for a 5-2 lead.
Brad Unger had a 1-2-3 first inning and Eric Eadington, Shawn Haviland, Jake Bruton, Adam Cole and Steffan Wilson all delivered impressive pitching performances for the Crimson, which used a different arm in each inning. Harvard pitchers picked off two base runners. Bryne led all players with his three hits while Prince and BC's Ayers and Eric Cambpell both had two safeties. Ratliff went the distance for BC, striking out nine while allowing eight hits.
BC will play for the Beanpot championship next Wednesday at 3 p.m. against Northeastern, which cruised past Massachusetts earlier in the day. Harvard and UMass will play in the consolation game at noon.
