By: Anthony Gulizia, News Staff
“We are what we are and there’s no way of getting round that.”
Those frustrated words came from baseball head coach Neil McPhee after last night’s 9-3 loss to Boston College in the championship game of the Beanpot Tournament.
“We just have to figure out a way to get ourselves off the canvas right now,” he said.
The Huskies started out strong last night in the bottom of the first as senior center fielder Frank Compagnone drove in a run with triple into the left field gap.
However, the Eagles answered with six unanswered runs, highlighted by a three-run home run by third baseman Anthony Melchionda.
The Huskies nipped back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third after sophomore first baseman Matt Miller knocked a two-run home run.
The Eagles added three more in the top of the fourth, as first baseman Mickey Wiswall sent a towering three run shot over the center field fence for a 9-3 lead.
The Eagle’s pitching staff silenced the Husky bats for the rest of the game, allowing just two hits.
For the Huskies, the months of March and April have been as gray and dismal as the heavy rain clouds that were hanging over Friedman Diamond this weekend. They dropped a three-game set against George Mason, sliding to 0-9 in the Colonial Athletic Association and 7-17 on the season. Since a 7-4 victory over Bryant on March 20, the Huskies have lost 15 out of the last 16, with their only victory coming against UMass Amherst in the first round of the Beanpot last Wednesday.
Despite losing 5-1 in the first game of Sunday’s double-header, the Huskies received a stellar performance from sophomore left-hander Drew Leenhouts. The lefthander struck out 15 hitters through eight innings, allowing just two hits.
“It’s frustrating for everybody to be in these close games,” Leenhouts said. “Everybody has had good games, but then we make some mistakes and we’re just waiting to put everything together.”
“That was as good as a performance we’ve had in this program for years,” McPhee added.
In a game scheduled to last just seven innings due to the rain, the Huskies were caught up in a dogfight as the game remained scoreless through nine innings.
The Huskies were one out away from escaping the top of the 10th inning unscathed until things really unfolded. With two outs and a man on second, a costly throwing error by junior shortstop Ryan Maguire extended the inning and the Patriots scored their first run of the game.
George Mason put four more runs up on the board before the Huskies recorded the final out, taking a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the 10th. After back-to-back singles from freshman catcher John Puttress and third baseman Logan Gillis, a fly ball from Miller put the Huskies on the board. However, the hopes of a comeback were quickly dashed with a ground out to the shortstop.
Friday afternoon, the Huskies sniffed a victory and pulled within two runs to make it 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth. Gillis ripped a double down the right field line to move freshman Jon Leroux to third, and they both scored on a single by freshman Alan Pastyrnak.
However, the Patriots tacked on two more in the top of the eight to ensure the 9-5 victory. Junior right-hander Les Williams pitched six strong innings for the Huskies, surrendering only four hits and one run while the Patriots managed to score seven with the help of the Huskies ailing defense.
The Husky offense lay dormant during the second game of Sunday’s double-header, scoring only one run in the bottom of the fourth after senior right fielder Tony DiCesare roped a triple to center field and scored on a groundout by senior center fielder Frank Compagnone.
George Mason piled on 11 runs off of 14 hits, while starter Chris O’Grady smothered the Husky offense to just three hits.
The Huskies look to get their first conference victory as they play host to UNC–Wilmington this weekend.
“There’s no team that we have played to this point that we don’t believe we can beat,” McPhee said.
