April 24, 2011

Box Score

ATLANTA, Ga. - Junior Andrew Lawrence went 3-for-4 with his fourth home run of the year but the Boston College baseball team lost at No. 9 Georgia Tech, 10-8, Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.

Lawrence drove in two runs in the game while sophomore Matt McGovern went 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs. Junior Brad Zapenas went 3-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs and classmate Anthony Melchionda had a pair of hits.

BC held the first lead of the game with a run in the top of the second. Melchionda got on base with an infield single and then stole second to get himself into scoring position. Lawrence drove him in with a single.

Georgia Tech responded with five runs in the bottom half of the second to take a 5-1 lead. Sam Dove and Daniel Palka started it off with consecutive singles to put runners on the corners and then Palka stole second on a strikeout. Mott Hyde singled up the middle for two runs and took second on the throw home. A groundout and a walk put runners on the corners with two outs, then Jacob Esch hit an RBI single to center. A balk moved both runners into scoring position before Matt Skole capped the scoring with a two-run double.

The Eagles got two of the runs back in the third to make it a 5-3 game. Senior Matt Hamlet led off with a walk and freshman Tom Bourdon hit the wall in right for a double that moved him to third. A wild pitch scored the first run and McGovern plated Bourdon with a sac fly.

The Yellow Jackets added three runs of their own in the third. Dove and Palka started things again with singles to put themselves on the corners and then a wild pitch moved Palka up to second. Zane Evans drove in a run with a groundout and then a walk and a passed ball put two more in scoring position. Kyle Wren cleared the bases with a triple to push the lead to 8-3.

Lawrence and Evans traded solo home runs in the fourth and fifth, respectively, to make it 9-4. Tech put up another run in the sixth with a sac fly from Dove.

BC climbed back into the game with three runs in the seventh. After a walk to freshman Nate LaPointe, Zapenas hit the wall in left for an RBI double. McGovern followed Zapenas with an RBI triple to cut the deficit to 10-6 and then an infield error made it a three-run game.

The Eagles (14-23, 6-14 ACC) added a run in the ninth but couldn't get any more. Zapenas led off with a double and then McGovern chopped an RBI single up the middle before Luke Bard shut the door.

Georgia Tech (30-11, 17-4) was led by Esch, Dove and Palka who each had two hits. Wren, Skole, Evans and Hyde all drove in two runs. Buck Farmer got the win after throwing 6.2 innings and Bard picked up his sixth save.

BC flies to New York City tonight to face St. John's Monday at 3 p.m.