Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Vanderbilt
Baseball Falls Short Against No. 1 Vanderbilt
February 25, 2007 | Baseball
Feb. 25, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The men's baseball team came very close to upsetting the top-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores this afternoon, but came up short, dropping a difficult 7-6 decision at Hawkins Field in Nashville. The loss drops the Eagles' record to 0-3 while Vanderbilt improves to a perfect 10-0.
The Eagles led the entire game until the Commodore's last at bat. With one out and one on, sophomore Ryan Flaherty homered to right field off of closer Dan Houston, giving Vanderbilt the dramatic win.
BC would get on the board early as Eric Hutchinson would hit a sac-fly to score Johnny Ayers and give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Vanderbilt would get the run right back, however, as sophomore Pedro Alvarez would homer to right-center, tying the score after one inning.
The Eagles would open the game up in the top of the third inning, scoring three times on four hits, increasing their lead to 5-1, after a Tony Sanchez RBI single. Senior Nick Asselin would pitch well, allowing just three runs on five hits in 6.0 innings of work. He would leave the game with a 5-3 lead.
Freshman Michael Belfiore also pitched well in his collegiate pitching debut, allowing 0 runs and 0 hits in 1.0 inning of work. BC held a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom half of the eighth, but Vandy countered with two runs, tying the game at 5-5 after eight full innings.
The Eagles would answer, however, as junior Joseph Ayers lead off the ninth with a double, and would score on a Ryan Hutchinson single to left, reclaiming the lead for BC, 6-5. The lead would be short-lived though, as the shortstop Flaherty would connect for his second hit of the game, sealing the win for Vanderbilt.
The Eagles are back in action on Friday, March 2 when they take on the Boston Red Sox in their annual exhibition game in Fort Myers, Fla.
