March 4, 2012
Box Score
Reach Baseball Contact Michael Stambaugh for more details by E-Mail
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After coming from behind to claim a late-game lead, the Wildcats fell victim to costly ninth inning errors, and surrendered the lead in a 7-6 loss of third series game with Troy.
“The bottom line is that we can't make that many mistakes and win baseball games,” said Head Coach Jason Beverlin. “We really didn't deserve to win that game, even though we had an opportunity in the last inning.”
Bouncing back from the wide-margin second game loss to the Trojans (6-4), Bethune-Cookman (5-7) displayed early hitting in game three, but weren't able to tack on runs until late in the outing.
Troy scored runs across the first three innings to build an early lead on the Wildcats, who narrowed the gap in the third inning as David Lee put the Wildcats on the board with a two-out single into the right field gap, picking up two bases for both runners. With a runner in scoring position, Nick Johnson followed with a single placed perfectly in shallow left field to tack on another to slim the gap to two runs.
Troy would add another in the fourth, but would be put on hold throughout the game's middle innings.
After starter Rayan Gonzalez (5 K's, 3 ER) held Troy without a run in the fifth, Sophomore Scott Garner took the mound in relief, throwing three innings with three strikeouts, just a single hit, and allowing no runs.
“I thought Rayan did an excellent job of battling all day and overcoming adversity. I was very happy to see that,” Beverlin noted. ”Scott did an excellent job of keeping us in the game and giving us the opportunity to come back and win. Even at the end, I don't think we pitched poorly, we just had too many mistakes that last inning.”
The Wildcats took advantage of the defensive opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, as Alejandro Sanchez loaded the bases with an attempted sac bunt, and Troy went for the lead runner, Jairo Acevedo, who beat the throw at third. Next up, Lee again gave B-CU some juice, narrowing the deficit to just one with a two-RBI single to right field.
The Cats took a 6-5 lead on a ball just inside third base, misfielded by the baseman, scoring two runs.
However, three infield errors in the top of the ninth inning gave the Trojans scoring position and two runs, to take the 7-6 lead. Allowing a single B-CU hit in the bottom half before retiring the side, Troy claimed the come from behind win and took the series 2-1.
The Wildcats matched the Trojans in hitting, collecting ten on the day, led by Lee, who finished 2-5 with three RBI. Jordan Taylor (2-3) and Sanchez (2-5) also tallied a pair each.
“I thought we did good things at times offensively,” said Beverlin. “After we figured out their starter a little bit, we put together some hits and scored some runs.”
Troy shortstop Taylor Hannah went 4-4 to lead the team and finish 9-15 with two RBI in the series.
“We've got to continue to improve,” Beverlin concluded. “It's a long season and we have to learn from our mistakes, learn to not repeat them, and then we're going to get better.”
The Wildcats have a rare break in the action here in the early season, hitting the practice field and the classroom with only a weekend series on the slate. B-CU travels to Tallahassee next weekend, opening the first three of 24 conference games, on the road, against Florida A&M on Saturday and Sunday.
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