Baseball Drops Rubber Match, 3-1

Boston College bats stranded a total of 11 men, including potential game-tying runs in the 8th and 9th, as the Stetson Hatters took two of three games from the Eagles in DeLand, Florida this weekend.  Freshman Johnny Adams knocked in the Eagles' only run of the game as BC lost, 3-1, on Sunday.

John Gorman put together a strong performance on the hill for BC, going five innings and scattering four hits and one run while striking out four. Stetson scored that run in the second inning when Gorman surrendered a leadoff triple to catcher Garrett Russini.  Russini scored when Mike Fernland hit a sacrifice fly two batters later.

BC attempted to respond in the bottom of the third but stranded two on base.  Nick Colucci led off with a walk, advancing to second on a groundball to second by Nick Sciortino.  He went to third when Joe Cronin singled to left.  With runners at the corners, Cronin stole second to set up a jam for Stetson starting pitcher Josh Powers.  But Powers induced John Hennessy into a foulout at third, and Blake Butera grounded to short to end the threat.

The game remained 1-0 into the sixth when Mike Gambino lifted Gorman for reliever Jesse Adams.  Adams hit Tyler Bocock to lead off the frame, and Bocock immediately came around to score on a double to right center by Patrick Mazeika.  He would score when Russini laced a grounder off the glove of Hennessy at first.  Adams then got out of the inning but not before the damage was done.

Adams lasted just the one inning before Mike King came in for BC.  The freshman pitched two innings and allowed just one hit, striking out two and walking none while shutting down the Hatters.

That buoyed the defense while the offense made a last dash attempt to tie the game in the 8th and 9th innings, trailing 3-0.  In the eighth, Hennessy led off with a lineout to right.  With one out, Butera walked.  With one on and one out, Chris Shaw flied out to center before Tom Bourdon singled to keep the inning alive.  Adams then singled to the right to score Butera, cutting the Stetson lead to 3-1.  But pinch hitter Tyler Hinchcliffe grounded out to first, ending the threat.

In the ninth, it was more of the same.  Nick Colucci reached via an error and Nick Sciortino walked to put two on with nobody out.  Logan Hoggarth came in to pinch run for Sciortino, advancing to second when Cronin bunted both runners over.  With the tying run in scoring position, closer Tyler Warmoth struck out both Hennessy and Butera to end the threat and the game.

With the loss, BC dropped to 4-3 on the season while Stetson improved to 2-4 on the season.  BC is now off until Thursday, when they travel to Fort Myers for their annual exhibition with the 2013 World Champion Boston Red Sox.  It will be the 24th meeting between the Red Sox and Eagles, occurring roughly 40 minutes after the Sox play Northeastern.

For postgame interview coverage from the BC Bird Ball YouTube account, see the link below:

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Gambino after Stetson Loss (via Bird Ball)