BRIGHTON — Entering the top of the sixth inning, the Massachusetts baseball team only trailed 4-2. However, Boston College had other ideas.
Sophomore Jake Goodreau singled to deep right field, scoring fellow sophomore Brian Dempsey from third and freshman Chris Galland from second, making it 6-2.
The Eagles (11-19, 5-10 Atlantic Coast Conference) plated three more runs, courtesy of a bases clearing double by sophomore Jack Cunningham. Boston College walked away with the 9-2 win.
“We didn’t play good enough to win, no matter who we play[ed],” UMass coach Matt Reynolds said. “Not good enough to win in all three phases. I’m hoping we can figure it out sometime soon because the opponent is really irrelevant in these cases because we’re trying to self-evaluate more than anything else.”
In the bottom of the fifth inning, trailing 4-0, the Minutemen (9-13, 2-7 Atlantic 10) broke into the run column and scored two runs.
The first run came off the bat of sophomore Eddy Hart who doubled to left field, scoring classmate Nolan Kessinger all the way from first base and making it a 4-1 game. Hart finished the day two-for-five with an RBI and a run scored.
“I just go up there with the same mindset every time,” Hart said. “I was trying to put the ball in play, put a barrel on the ball and that’s what I did.”
After Hart advanced on a wild pitch, redshirt sophomore Connor Smith followed with a bloop single to center field of his own, making it 4-2 and scoring Hart from third.
“I always stay with a right-center approach and don’t try to do too much, look for fastballs early in the count,” Smith said. “I saw a fastball, a little outside. I ended up pulling it, hitting it off the end of the bat, but it got through.”
That would be all for the UMass offense on Tuesday.
Freshman Ben Shields got the start on the mound for the Minutemen and was hit by multiple line drives—one hit his back and another hit his ankle. Shields remained in the game and was pulled after the fourth inning.
“I think it was a tough spot for him, pitching against a very good team, an ACC team,” Reynolds said of Shields’ performance. “I don’t think he threw the ball poorly, he had some tough luck and missed a couple spots and they hit him hard.”
Not only was Shields hit hard, but the Minutemen also committed three errors in the field. One came on a throwing error by Hart, another came when junior first baseman Cooper Mrowka dropped a foul fly ball and the third was also charged to Mrowka who threw the ball away when attempting to turn a double play.
“We have to realize as a program that if we’re going to win baseball games that those are plays that are going to have to be made,” Reynolds said. “That doesn’t mean that nobody makes physical errors, of course you’re going to make errors, but those plays are easy plays.”
Reynolds added: “That’s the struggle and that inning we had two of them, we ended up stretching Ben out longer than we wanted to…He had to earn those outs and we didn’t convert them for him. All of a sudden he’s thrown 20 pitches…We need to get tougher defensively.”
In their next matchup, the Minutemen take on another in-state rival in UMass Lowell at Earl Lorden Field in Amherst. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.
Zander Manning can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @ZMSportsReport.
