Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Stetson
Baseball Wins Season Opener At Stetson 8-7
February 20, 2009 | Baseball
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DeLand, Fla. - Senior captain JB MacDonald started the year off on the right foot, throwing 5.2 innings and allowing just one run as the Boston College baseball team beat Stetston, 8-7, in front of 2,789 spectators at Melching Field at Conrad Park. Junior Robbie Anston drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning and freshman Brad Zapenas added what would prove to be the game-winner.
MacDonald allowed four hits and struck out four. Anston and Zapenas both had two RBI in the game. Zapenas went 2-for-5 in his collegiate debut while sophomore Mickey Wiswall went also had a pair of hits.
The crowd was the second-largest opening day number in Stetson baseball history and the sixth-largest all-time.
Boston College led 6-2 going into the bottom of the eighth, but Stetson tied it up with four runs. Sophomore Garret Smith led off the top of the ninth with a walk for the Eagles and classmate Mike Sudol advanced him to second on a sacrifice bunt. In the next at-bat, senior Harry Darling walked but on ball four the pitch got past the catcher which allowed Smith to get to third.
Anston came up to the plate with the opportunity to drive in the go-ahead run and did when he grounded out to second. It was a slowly hit ball and the only play Mark Jones could make was to first. Zapenas drove in an insurance run when he singled to center to plate redshirt freshman Andrew Lawrence who was pinch running for Darling.
Junior Mike Belfiore came on in the ninth and closed the door on Stetson for his first save of the season, but not after Aaron Crittenden smashed an RBI double to left center. Belfiore got Kyle Maulbetsch swinging for the final out with Crittenden stranded on second.
The two starting pitchers, MacDonald and Stetson's Robby Donovan, commanded the first four innings of the game. The first 17 batters went down before the Hatters' Mark Jones singled up the middle in the bottom of the third with two outs.
In the bottom of the fourth, Stetson's Robert Crews forced a walk with one out, but the Eagles picked up an important double play when MacDonald struck out Jeremy Cruz swinging at a ball in the dirt. Crews tried to take second but junior Tony Sanchez kept the ball in front of him and gunned him out to end the inning.
Donovan worked four innings of perfect ball, but sophomore Mickey Wiswall rewarded the defense by starting a two-run inning in the top of the fifth with a single up the middle. Belfiore tried to sacrifice him over, but failed on two bunt attempts. Faced with an 0-2 count, Belfiore drove a liner to the right-center gap for a triple and BC's first run of the season.
Junior Barry Butera kept the inning going with a walk to make it first and third with nobody out. Smith singled in Belfiore to put the Eagles up 2-0 and then Sudol sacrifice bunted to put runners at second and third with one out.
Head coach Mikio Aoki called for a suicide squeeze with Darling, but he missed on his bunt attempt and Butera was tagged out on the third base line. Darling eventually popped out to end the inning.
MacDonald had allowed one hit through the first four innings, but the Hatters responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth. Aaron Crittenden singled to lead it off and after Kyle Maulbetsch got caught looking, Nick Rickles singled when Zapenas fielded a high chopper at second but lost his balance trying to throw to first.
With a 1-2 count, Frank Florio battled off numerous MacDonald pitches and eventually loaded the bases with a single to center and then Mark Jones walked on four pitches to make it 2-1. The Eagles got out of the inning when MacDonald induced Jeff Simpson into a 5-2-3 double play to preserve BC's one-run lead.
Boston College added four more runs in the top of the seventh to build its lead to 6-1. Belfiore led off and reached when the first baseman dropped a pop up. Butera sacrificed him to second and then scored on a throwing error by the third baseman on a Smith grounder.
Sudol then drove in Smith - who had reached second on the errant throw - with a single to put the Eagles up 4-1. David Burns came on in relief to face the leftie Anston, but Anston got the better of him when he blasted a triple over the diving center fielder to bring Sudol home.
Zapenas kept the rally going with a single to left to push the lead to 6-1.
The Hatters tacked on its second run in the seventh, but Stetson came up with four runs in the bottom of the eighth to knot the game at 6-6. Crews and Cruz both walked to start the inning for the Hatters and Aaron Crittenden made the Eagles pay when he chopped a base hit through the right side to make it 6-3. Frank Florio followed suit with a two-out double to left that scored another run to cut the deficit to two.
Jones then tied up the game when he ripped a ball past a diving Wiswall at third to bring home the runners in scoring position.
BC and the Hatters will play three more times this weekend. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday with the first game slated for 1 p.m.
