Pictured: Andrew Ferreira threw 5.0 hitless innings
Wednesday against Boston College (Gil Talbot).
BROCKTON, Mass. – Boston College's Dave
Laufer struck out Harvard's Kyle Larrow with the bases loaded as
the Eagles survived the Crimson with a 10-9 victory in the first
round of the baseball Beanpot at Brockton's Campanelli Stadium on
Wednesday afternoon.
Next Wednesday, Harvard (11-18) and Boston College (16-17) will
square off against the loser and winner, respectively, of tonight's
game between Northeastern and Massachusetts.
Harvard, which out-hit BC by a 13-7 margin, is back in action
this weekend as the Crimson hosts a four-game set against Brown on
Saturday and Sunday at O'Donnell Field.
Trailing by six in the ninth inning, Harvard put together an
impressive two-out rally against BC closer Matt Brazis but came up
one pitch short as Laufer got a strikeout on a low 1-2
changeup.
It was a game of momentum swings as Harvard starter Andrew
Ferreira threw five hitless innings only to see Boston College come
up with a six-run sixth inning to chase him from the game and get
into the Crimson bullpen.
Harvard jumped on top in the third inning. Sean O'Hara singled
sharply up the middle to score Chris Rouches (single).
The Crimson threatened in the fourth as singles from Jeff
Reynolds and Tyler Albright put runners on the corners with no
outs. The bottom of Harvard's order could not produce a run however
and BC starter Chris Kowalski worked out of further trouble.
Ferreira (0-2), making his seconds start, was untouchable in the
early going as he struck out four straight at one point as he held
BC hitless through 5.0 innings while recording seven strikeouts in
all. Things changed in the sixth as the strike calls did not come
as easily.
Number nine hitter Brad Zapenas led off the bottom of the sixth
with a seeing-eye single through the left side. A dropped
throw on a pickoff attempt moved him to second and he went to third
on a sacrifice bunt. Matt Hamlet followed with a double inside the
third base bag and past a drawn-in infield to tie the game.
Consecutive walks loaded the bases for Matt Watson who was hit with
a 3-2 pitch. Mike Sudal followed with an RBI groundout for a 3-1
lead and Garrett Smith doubled to left for a sudden 5-1 lead to
chase Ferreira in favor of Dan Berardo. After a walk, Zapenas
scored the sixth BC run with a single through the left side.
After Harvard touched Kowalski for six hits in the first five
innings, reliever Kevin Moran shut down the Crimson, only allowing
one hit over three innings while striking out a batter. Moran
earned the win to even his record at 4-4 on the season.
BC added to its lead as John Spatula hooked a 2-1 changeup over
the right field wall in the seventh for an 8-1 lead.
Harvard pushed three runs across in the eighth against Brazis,
eventually touching the Eagle's closer for six runs in 1.2 innings.
O'Hara led off with a single and came around on a Brent Suter
fielder's choice. Suter and Marcus Way came around on an RBI single
from Sam Franklin that saw Franklin stand up at third base after an
error in right field.
BC got two important insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth
against Jonah Klees on run-scoring doubles from Rob Anston and
Hamlet to make it a 10-4 game.
In the ninth, Harvard pushed BC to the limit in the ninth with a
two-out rally. Way launched a deep double to the right-center gap
to score Dillon O'Neill (walk) and make it a 10-5 game. A single
from Reynolds, his third of the game, put runners on the corners
and chased Brazis from the game in favor of Kyle Prohovich.
Albright greeted Prohovich with a hard single up the middle for
a 10-6 score. After a walk loaded the bases, Franklin delivered a
run with a single to right and a bases loaded walk to Rouches on a
full count made the score 10-8 as BC went back to its bullpen in
favor of Dave Laufer. Facing O'Neill, Laufer issued a wild pitch to
make it a 10-9 game before walking Harvard's leadoff batter to set
up the final at bat against Larrow.
O'Hara, Way, Albright and Franklin all had two hits apiece to
join Reynolds' three-hit game.
