The Massachusetts baseball team suffered a 13-12 defeat against Boston College in the first round of the Baseball Beanpot.
Steve Luttazi came up to bat for UMass with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, down by one run with the score at 13-12. Down in an 0-2 count, he smoked a line drive into right field for a single. This left a runner on first with two outs and Carter Hanson coming up to bat.
Hanson sent a ball over the fence earlier in the game and was looking for a repeat. He sent a high deep drive into centerfield that sent the Boston College centerfielder back to the warning track where the ball was caught short of the fence.
“I thought it was [going to] get out,” Luttazi said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t get out, but [Hanson] had a great game, put a good swing on it and did all he can. So, that’s all you can ask for.”
Luttazi also came up in the seventh with no runners on and sent a high deep drive over the right-field wall for a solo home run, adding a bat flip before rounding the bases.
The Minutemen started out strong offensively, scoring 10 runs in the first two innings to get out to an early eight-run lead. But the pitching struggled to keep Boston College from crossing the plate. The Eagles reached base 13 times by either a walk or hit-by-pitch.
In the first inning, Mike Gervasi started scoring for UMass by smacking a single into right field, with runners on first and third. Hanson then sent a fly ball into the outfield that caused an error by the Eagles left fielder. Another run came across for the Minutemen while putting runners on second and third.
Sam Hill laid down the second bunt of the inning for UMass, scoring another run with the sacrifice. One more run for UMass crossed on a wild pitch, ending the first with a score of 5-0 in favor of the Minutemen.
Boston College came back in the second inning to add some of its own offense to the game. A hit-by-pitch, followed up with a double and a single, put two runs on the board for the Eagles.
UMass pitchers worked out of multiple jams throughout the contest, with Boston College batters finishing 0-7 with the bases loaded, along with 14 runners left on base.
“We did make some big pitches in some weak spots,” head coach Matt Reynolds said. “But [we] just gave them way too many free bases. [We] just completely pitched passively with a huge lead, and we can’t do that.”
The bottom of the second had more offense for UMass. Gervasi knocked in his second RBI of the game with a single through the left side of the infield. Luttazi also found his second RBI in the next at-bat of the inning, sending a single through the right side of the infield.
This left two runners on again, still with two outs. Hanson came up to the plate and sent a long fly ball over the right-center field wall into the shrubbery. The three-run homerun made the score 10-2 Minutemen.
Boston College had a five-run fifth inning that brought the Eagles back into the game. The score at the end of the fifth was 10-9 UMass. Then, in the top of the sixth inning, BC reached base on a walk and an error by the Minutemen. Two runs would come home for the Eagles from a groundout and a wild pitch, giving them their first lead of the game.
The Minutemen came back up to bat in the bottom of the inning with a bunt advancing a runner to third. Zack Zaetta sent a single into left field for an RBI, tying the game in the process.
UMass used small ball throughout the contest, with many bunts being utilized at opportune times and helping to score runs.
“I wanted to put some pressure on [Boston College] and make them field some balls,” Reynolds said. “I thought offensively we did a really good job. We did everything that we needed to do offensively to win.”
The Minutemen will look to bounce back after the tough one-run loss in their next three-game weekend series against Davidson College. First pitch of the series will be in Amherst on Friday, April 7 at 3 p.m.
Mike Maynard can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @mike_maynard_.
