Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Stetson
Offense Powers Baseball To 14-10 Win At Stetson
February 21, 2009 | Baseball
Feb. 21, 2009
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DeLand, Fla. - The Boston College baseball team scored nine runs in the seventh and eighth innings to beat Stetson, 14-10, in the first game of a day-night doubleheader at Melching Field at Conrad Park. Sophomore Kevin Moran pitched a solid 3.2 innings of relief to pick up the win.
Moran allowed three hits and two runs - both unearned - in his outing and struck out three. Junior Robbie Anston recorded career highs with four runs and four hits in a 4-for-5 performance. Sophomore Mickey Wiswall and junior Mike Belfiore both drove in three runs.
Freshman Brad Zapenas, Wiswall, junior Barry Butera and sophomore Mike Sudol all had two hits in the game. Sudol cracked his first career homer in the third inning while Belfiore blasted a three-run home run in the eighth. Sudol also drove in what would prove to be the game-winning run.
Belfiore picked up his second save in as many games. Stetson loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth before Belfiore came in and closed the door. He got Robert Crews to fly out to right for the game's final out.
The Eagles manufactured a run in the top of the first when Anston led off the game with a double down the left field line - his second extra base hit in as many games. Zapenas advanced him with a sacrifice bunt to the right side and then junior Tony Sanchez drove him home with a groundout to third that he nearly beat out.
Sudol led off the top of the third with a homer to push the BC lead to 2-0. He was down in the count 1-2 and eventually worked his way to 2-2 after fouling off a few pitches, then lined a home run over the right field wall.
The inning didn't end there though. With one out, Anston walked and then Zapenas kept his hot bat going. With Anston breaking for second, Zapenas pulled a pitch down the third base line for a double that easily scored Anston.
Then with two down, Wiswall roped a liner over the shortstop's head to plate Zapenas for a 4-0 advantage.
Stetson responded immediately with four runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game 4-4. Frank Florio led off with a base hit to left and then Mark Jones drove a ball to the wall for a double that advanced Florio to third base with nobody out. Florio scored on a pitch that got past the catcher which also put Jones at third.
Jeff Simpson drove in Jones with a single to right center that cut the BC lead in half, 4-2, and then stole second on a 1-1 count. After Leonard struck out Casey Frawley, Simpson reached third on a wild pitch on the first pitch to Robert Crews.
Crews plated Simpson on a grounder to shortstop and also reached when the throw drew Belfiore off the bag at first. Jeremy Cruz brought him home when he belted a double that reached the wall down the left field line.
The Hatters tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-4 lead. With one out in the inning, Florio placed a single over Zapenas' head at second and Jones reached again when he chopped a ball over Wiswall at third. Simpson popped out to center for the second out of the inning, but Frawley took a 0-2 pitch over the left field wall to give the Hatters their first lead of the series.
Both teams traded a run in the fifth inning to put the score at 8-5, but Stetson tacked on two more in the sixth inning to take a 10-5 advantage. Frawley led off with a single to center field on the first pitch, and then Crews hit a grounder up the middle that Smith misread which put runners on the corners with no outs. Sophomore Kevin Moran, who came on to start the inning, got Cruz to strike out on a ball in the dirt for the first out.
Aaron Crittenden hit a single to right to score a run and get Crews to third and Rickles got him to score on a sacrifice fly to center to put the Hatters' up 10-5.
Boston College rallied for six runs in the top of the seventh though to regain the lead at 11-10. Senior Harry Darling got things started with a single up the middle and Anston followed suit with a single to left to put runners at first and second. Zapenas sacrificed the runners into scoring position.
Sanchez worked a good at-bat and eventually reached when he was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Stetson brought on Travis Stortz for the leftie-leftie matchup against Wiswall, but Wiswall snuck a base hit through the left side to bring in two runs to make it 10-7.
Belfiore loaded the bases again after Jones made a throwing error trying to get Wiswall out at second on a force. Junior Barry Butera picked a good time to register his first hit of the season when he blooped a single to left field to score two more runs to pull the Eagles within one, 10-9. Butera and Belfiore also moved into scoring position on a throwing error to home plate.
Sophomore Garret Smith tied up the game when he grounded out to short and Sudol came up with a big two-out hit with a single up the middle to give Boston College the lead again.
The Eagles pushed the lead to 14-10 in the next inning with a two-out rally. Sanchez doubled to the left field wall after the first two batters were retired and Wiswall was intentionally walked to set up the force out. But with a 0-1 count, Belfiore cracked a three-run homer over the 403 feet marker in center field to add to the Boston College lead.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Robert Crews led off with a walk and then Cruz reached on an error by the second baseman to set up a scoring threat. Moran came up huge though and caught Crittenden looking at a fastball for the first out. On the next pitch, Moran induced Rickles into a key 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
