Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Towson
Baseball's Comeback Falls Short Against Towson
February 28, 2009 | Baseball
Feb. 28, 2009
Box Score
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FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Boston College baseball team was down 12-3 at one point against Towson, but the Tigers held off the Eagles for a 17-16 win on Saturday at Swanson Stadium in the FGCU Classic. BC scored seven runs in the sixth and six more in the eighth but still suffered their first loss of the year.
Four BC players ended the game with three hits including freshman Brad Zapenas, junior Tony Sanchez, sophomore Mickey Wiswall and junior Mike Belfiore. Belfiore and junior Barry Butera both had four RBI in the game which tied both of their career highs.
The two teams combined for 33 runs, 43 hits, 11 pitchers used and 404 pitches thrown. The game lasted three hours and 43 minutes.
For the third-straight game, BC scored in the first inning to take an early lead - this time a 2-0 advantage. Nate Curd retired the first two Eagle batters, but Sanchez parlayed a good at-bat into a single past the diving third baseman. Wiswall singled through the right side on the first pitch he saw to put runners on first and second and then Belfiore continued his hot hitting when he took an 0-1 pitch into the gap in right center to give BC a 2-0 lead.
Towson responded immediately in the top of the second and put four runs on the board to take the lead. With one out, Matt Collins walked and Aaron Gabrielan singled past a diving Zapenas at second to put runners on first and second. Austin Harclerode sent the first pitch through the left side of the infield to score Collins and cut the deficit in half, 2-1. Steve Freinberg kept the rally going with a double down the third base line to tie the score and put two more runners in scoring position.
Gary Helmick drove in Harclerode with a sacrifice fly to center to put the Tigers ahead, 3-2, and then Kevin Collins added another run when he snuck a ball over the first base bag and turned it into a triple.
Towson added another run in the top of the third and then four more in the top of the fourth to take a 9-2 lead. The Tigers got the first three men on board in the top of the fourth to load the bases with nobody out. Stifler grounded softly down the third base line and Wiswall came on to make a nice play, getting Helmick at home on a force out. Chris Wychock stepped to the plate and singled down the left field line to drive in two and cushion the lead to 7-2.
M. Collins kept the scoring going with a double to left center to make it 9-2 Tigers.
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, sophomore Mike Sudol hit a hard ground ball to first and it took a bad hop which allowed him to get to second, then Darling nailed one up the middle that the shortstop couldn't handle to score Sudol and make it 9-3.
In the top of the fifth, K. Collins hit a three-run homer to right field out of the reach of the leaping Butera to push the lead to 12-3.
In the bottom of the sixth with two outs, Darling had a tremendous at-bat and forced a walk that started a seven-run rally. Junior Robbie Anston reached when the second baseman booted a ground ball, then Zapenas snuck one inside the right field line for a single to score Darling. Sanchez loaded the bases with a walk and Wiswall forced another one to score Darling to make it 12-5.
Belfiore forced a full count and chopped a grounder up the middle. It was slow enough to beat out the throw and grab a run and then Butera took the first pitch he saw and ripped it down the first base line for a base-clearing triple which cut the lead to 12-9.
Smith kept the two-out rally going with a great at-bat which eventually led to a walk to put runners on the corners. Sophomore Matt Hamlet came on to pinch hit and hit a hot shot to short that was mishandled to add the final run of the inning and cut the deficit to two, 12-10.
Towson added to the lead further when Wychock hit a three-run homer in the top of the seventh to get the lead back to five, 15-10.
In the bottom of the eighth, Butera led off with a walk and after an out, junior Sam Shaughnessy came on to pinch hit and also drew a walk. Darling fought off pitch after pitch and eventually singled to the gap in right center to drive home Butera.
Anston then flew out to left to plate Shaughnessy to make it 17-12. With two outs, the next five BC batters all singled for four more runs to pull the Eagles within one, 17-16.
Towson's Josh Squatrito, who gave up five of the runs in the eighth, came on in the ninth and got BC in order to end the game.
K. Collins went 4-for-6 in the game for the Tigers (2-4) with four RBI and three runs. Steve Yarsinsky, Wychock and M. Collins each had three hits and Wychock added five RBI.
BC (6-1) will take on Samford in its final game in the FGCU Classic on Sunday at noon. The game will be played at the Terry Park Baseball Complex in Fort Myers.
