COLLEGE
BASEBALL FINAL SCORE
NCAA Championship Regional Game 11
UMass Boston 3, Tufts 2
At Willimantic, CT
Friday, May 21, 2010
Game
Box Score
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- Paired up as the 2-0 squads in the 2010
NCAA Division III regional here today, the University of
Massachusetts Boston continued its improbable march to the NCAA
Division III World Series as the seventh-seeded Beacons erased a
2-0 deficit and scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to pull
out a 3-2 victory over top-seeded Tufts University.
With the win, UMB is in the championship round Saturday at 5 pm,
and will face the winner of the Tufts versus either Wheaton College
or St. Joseph's College (Me.) contest, which takes place at 1 pm
Saturday. Wheaton and St. Joe's finish the activity Friday night
with the day's final elimination game.
The Beacons came into the bottom of the ninth trailing 2-1.
Tufts, which had been rotating its pitchers throughout the game,
brought in ace reliever Chris DeGoti (Miami, FL)
to hold the lead in search of his 13th save of the season. It
wasn't to be as UMB opened the inning with a double to the
left-centerfield fence from senior left fielder Drew Tambling
(Sterling, MA). Sophomore center fielder Mark McCormack (Shelton,
CT) then reached on a two-base error as Tambling zipped to third
base. Tufts recorded the first out on a foul pop, but a fly ball to
left by junior catcher Tim Fontaine (Worcester, MA) allowed
Tambling to tag up and score the tying run unearned. McCormack
scored the winning run after a throwing error on junior first
baseman Connor Reinfurt's (Manchester, NH) hard grounder.
Tufts had jumped on UMB starter Michael Andriano (Massapequa,
NY) in the first inning, combining two hits with a walk and an
error to take a 2-0 lead in the first meeting between the teams
since 2000. With one out, junior DH Ben Walkley (Trumbull,
CT) worked a walk and moved to second base on a ground
single up the middle by sophomore third baseman Sam Sager
(Cranston, RI) which the UMB middle infield almost turned
into an out at second base. A wild pitch advanced both runners and
junior right fielder Chase Rose (Scottsdale, AZ)
lined a single into right field to drive in the go-ahead run. A
sharp grounder that was playable at third base off the bat of
sophomore first baseman Matt Collins (Hopkinton,
MA) was the catalyst for an unearned run as Sager scored
from third base on the error for the 2-0 lead. Andriano got out of
the frame without further trouble.
Andriano pitched an outstanding game for UMB, going 8.2 innings
while yielding just four hits and two runs, one of which was earned
with four strikeouts, in one of his most effective outings of the
year. He has made 12 appearances with seven starts. He did not get
the win however, as junior reliever Tony Damon (San Bruno, CA) got
the final out in the top of the ninth and became the pitcher of
record, making him 5-2 on the year.
As they do frequently during the regular-season, Tufts
incorporated a rotating pitcher strategy with sophomore
Dave Ryan (Trumbull, CT) started and went two
innings. Sophomore Jake Crawford (Boise, ID)
tossed the third inning with a pair of strikeouts. Senior
Tom Hill (Robbinsville, NJ) ran into some
difficulty during his appearance in the fourth as he issued a walk
to leadoff batter Fontaine before Reinfurt slashed a single into
left field. A sacrifice bunt by senior Jeff Outzen (San Mateo, CA)
moved the runners to second and third with one out, but a pop up to
first base and a routine groundout kept it a 2-0 Tufts lead.
The difficulty continued into the fifth for Tufts as new pitcher
freshman Dan Eisenberg (North Andover, MA) loaded
the bases with a pair of walks and a hit batter with two outs.
After running a 2-0 count on Reinfurt, Eisenberg was relieved by
junior Pat O'Donnell (Worcester, MA) who tossed
two more balls to force in a run as Reinfurt got the RBI. The side
was retired on a hard liner to center by Outzen to keep the Jumbos
ahead, 2-1. UMB threatened again in the sixth as sophomore third
baseman Mike Mattei (Spencer, MA) led off with a line single to
right off O'Donnell. A sacrifice bunt and a swinging bunt advanced
Mattei to third, but he was left there after an inning-ending
groundout.
Tufts then got two runners into scoring position for the first
time since the first inning against Andriano, but the lefty worked
out of trouble in the seventh by inducing a groundout to second
base as the score remained 2-1. In the bottom of the seventh, the
Beacons got their leadoff man aboard for the fourth consecutive
inning, but again could not come up with the tying run as the sixth
Tufts pitcher, junior Ed Bernstein (Foxborough,
MA), got two strikeouts to retire the side after Fontaine
produced UMB's third hit of the game to put runners at first and
second with one out.
UMB picked up its eighth straight win and 14th in its last 16
starts after going 17-13 through 30 games. Tufts (33-6) saw its
12-game win streak halted.
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