Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Florida Atlantic
Dean Leads Baseball Past Florida Atlantic, 5-2
March 05, 2010 | Baseball
March 5, 2010
BOCA RATON, Fla. - Junior Pat Dean pitched 7.0 strong innings and freshman DH Matt Watson blasted a three-run homer to lead the Boston College baseball team to a 5-2 win Friday night at the FAU Baseball Stadium.
Dean allowed four hits during his outing and two runs, both of which came in the eighth inning. He struck out four and walked three. Dean retired nine straight batters and 14 of 16 after allowing a leadoff hit in the first inning.
Watson hit a towering three-run homer in the fourth inning, his second of the season. Senior OF Robbie Anston added a solo shot in the fifth and went 2-for-4 in the game. Sophomore Anthony Melchionda went 2-for-4 with a double and a run.
Senior Chris Kowalski finished the eighth inning on the mound and allowed minimal damage when the bases were loaded with no outs. Sophomore Matt Brazis earned the first save of his BC career.
After three innings of dominant pitching on both sides, Boston College was the first to score in the top of the fourth with Watson's blast. Melchionda registered the first BC hit of the day with a double to the gap in right with one out. Taylor Everist pitched around senior John Spatola to put two runners on and get Watson to the plate, who pulled a first pitch fastball high into the night and over the wall in right to put BC on top, 3-0.
Anston added a solo shot to the same spot as Watson on a 3-2 fastball to leadoff the top of the fifth and put the Eagles ahead, 4-0.
The Eagles tacked on another run in the eighth to go up five runs. Juniors Matt Hamlet and Mickey Wiswall got aboard with a walk and a hit batsman to start the inning but Hamlet was thrown out at third on a double steal. Melchionda reached base when the third baseman's throw on a ground ball drew the first baseman off the bag to put runners at first and second. Spatola then singled over the bag at first to bring Wiswall around to score for some more insurance.
The Owls finally broke through with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Joey Burkhalter and Anthony Mesa both walked to start the frame which brought Kowalski in from the bullpen. He started with a 2-0 count on Mike Albaladejo and eventually walked him to load the bases. Raymond Church plated FAU's first run with an RBI infield single on a slow chopper to short.
Andy Mee added the other run with a sacrifice fly to right field. With one out, Dan Scheffler ripped a liner to the left side but Wiswall leaped and robbed him of an RBI hit and Kowalski got Colby Gratton to ground out to end the threat.
Brazis pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.
Everist pitched 5.0 innings and allowed four runs in the loss. Church went 2-for-3 for the Owls from the plate with an RBI.
The two teams meet again in the second game of the series on Saturday at 4 p.m.
