April 18, 2009

BULLDOGS DROP PAIR TO OWLS, 12-10 AND 13-5, ON SATURDAY

April 18, 2009

BULLDOGS DROP PAIR TO OWLS, 12-10 AND 13-5, ON SATURDAY

BOCA RATON, FLA. - The Bryant baseball team fell in a pair of games at Florida Atlantic Saturday afternoon, losing 12-10 and 13-5 in a doubleheader in Boca Raton. The Owls have won the first three games of the four games series, with the teams finishing up the set on Sunday afternoon.

Game 1
Junior Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn.) was two-for-five with five RBI, including launching a grand slam in the fifth inning as part of a valiant Bryant comeback, but it was not enough as the Bulldogs fell to the Owls, 12-10, in game one of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon.

A five run second inning put the Owls out front early, leading 5-0 after two. William Block had the big hit of the inning, launching a two-out, three-run home run to right center that quickly took a two-run lead to a five-run advantage. Block was two-for-five with three RBI and two runs scored in the contest.

The Bulldogs broke up the shutout in the third, as Connor Carignan (Norwich, Conn.) came through with a sacrifice fly that plated Jamie Skagerlind (Holden, Mass.) from third to cut the deficit to 5-1. Skagerlind, who had doubled to start the inning, was two-for-two with two runs scored in the first game of the twin bill.

The Owls extended their lead with two runs in the third and two more in the fourth, leading 9-2 after four innings. After Tom Hatcher scored on a throwing error for the team's sixth run, Nick DelGuidice hit the second two-out home run of the day off of Bryant starter Dan Lozeau (Pelham, N.H.), knocking the senior out of the game with a 7-2 deficit.

Tom Baker (West Brookfield, Mass.) relieved Lozeau, going 3.2 innings out of the bullpen while allowing five runs and striking out two. Nick Laude (Wells, Maine) and Brent Almeida (Fairhaven, Mass.) finished up the final 1.2 innings of the contest, combining to shut down the Owls on just one hit. Almeida pitched a perfect one-two-three eighth.

Trailing 9-2, the Bulldogs started to mount a comeback in the fifth, thanks in large part to a two-out grand slam by Vigurs, launching the offering from Nick Melendres over the fence in left center. The blast cut the seven run deficit down to three runs, as Vigurs had his second five RBI game of the year.

Bryant struck for two more runs in the sixth to cut the lead to 9-8 after trailing by as many as seven. Pat McKenna (Orange, Conn.) and Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, R.I.) came through with back-to-back RBI singles in the frame to plate both of the runs. Stone was two-for-four in the contest while McKenna was one-for-four to extend his hitting streak to a team season-best 18 games.

Three runs in the bottom of the seventh gave the Owls some padding, extending their lead to four at 12-8. Colby Gratton came through in the clutch, knocking a big two-run single to right field as part of the three-run rally.

Bryant was able to get one run in the eighth and another in the ninth, but it was not enough to complete the comeback as they fell in the first game of the doubleheader. Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass.) and Tim Norton (Barnstable, Mass.) drove in the two runs to finish off the scoring, as the two teams combined for 22 runs on 24 hits.

Game 2
The Bulldogs collected seven hits in the contest, three coming off the bat of McKenna as their

Pat McKenna went three-for-five in game two of the doubleheader, extending his hitting streak to 19 games.

one-through-four hitters did all the damage in the game, but Bryant could not keep up with the bats of the Owls as they fell, 13-5, in game two. Campbell drove in three RBI in the contest, registering his sixth multi-RBI game this season.

McKenna, Stone, Campbell and Pat O'Connor (Mattapoisett, Mass.) combined to go seven-for-16 with five RBI and three runs scored to pace the Bulldog offense in the contest, helping the team score five runs on seven hits. Jon Beauregard (New Bedford, Mass.) also scored a pair of runs while making the start behind the plate.

Jeremy Griffiths opened the scoring in the first inning, hitting a two-out three-run blast down the right field line off of Bulldog starter John Michael Ryan (Worcester, Mass.) to give the Owls a 3-0 lead. Florida Atlantic would tally in each of the firs three innings to take a 6-3 lead after three. Ryan went 5.1 innings, allowing seven runs on five hits while striking out two.

O'Connor put Bryant on the board in the top of the second, blasting his seventh home run of the year and second in the last four games to cut the deficit to 3-1. The senior is hitting a blistering .524 over his last 12 games, with two home runs and 11 RBI.

After the Owls tacked on two more in the bottom of the second on a two out single by Block to go up 5-1, the Bulldogs responded with two of their own in the top of third to cut the lead back down to two. Campbell did the damage, lining a two-out single to right to plate McKenna and Beauregard and put the score at 5-3.

Florida Atlantic added on another in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 6-3, but Ryan would retire six of the next eight batters he faced to hold the Owls scoreless through the fourth and fifth.

An RBI double by Wilson in the bottom of the sixth put some more distance between the two teams, as the home team claimed a 7-3 lead.

Bryant got two back in the top of the seventh to cut the lead in half at 7-5 in favor of FAU. Stone drove in a run with a one out single, and Campbell hit a sacrifice fly to record his third RBI of the contest.

The Owls would put the game out of reach with two runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth off the Bryant bullpen, as they went on to the 13-5 win to take the first three games of the four-game series.

Bryant will send Eric Polvani (Wallingford, Conn.) to the mound to try to stop the three-game slide, as the Bulldogs and Owls finish up their four-game set on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m.).

Notes:

Pat McKenna extended his hitting streak to a team season-best 19 games, putting together a three hit performance in game two.
After going two-for-five with five RBI in game one, Jeff Vigurs had reached base safely in 37-straight contests while hitting in 15-straight. The junior had that streak snapped in game two, not reaching base for the first time since the first game of the season against Mercer in February.
Pat O'Connor pushed his hitting streak to 12-straight games. He is hitting .524 in that stretch.
Tim Norton had his eight-game hitting streak snapped in game two, while Jordan English lost his ten-game streak in game one.

Florida Atlantic 12, Bryant University 10 (Apr 18, 2009 at Boca Raton, FL) (Game 1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryant University... 001 142 011 - 10 12 1 (26-12)
Florida Atlantic.... 052 200 30X - 12 12 0 (20-16)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Bryant University - Dan Lozeau; Tom Baker(3); Nick Laude(7); Brent Almeida(8).
Florida Atlantic - Melendres; Bernal(6); Pepe(7).
Win-Melendres(1-0) Save-Pepe(1) Loss-Dan Lozeau(5-1) T-2:52 A-0
HR BRY - Jeff Vigurs (8).
HR FAU - Block (5); DelGuidice (2).
Weather: 79 degrees, ENE 19, Sunny

Florida Atlantic 13, Bryant University 5 (Apr 18, 2009 at Boca Raton, FL) (Game 2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryant University... 012 000 200 - 5 7 1 (26-13)
Florida Atlantic.... 321 001 24X - 13 16 0 (21-16)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Bryant University - John Michael Ryan; Brent Almeida(6); Brian O'Neil(7);
Rocco Cundari(8). Florida Atlantic - Garcia; Garton(7); Troyanowski(7).
Win-Garcia(2-0) Save-Troyanowski(3) Loss-John Michael Ryan(3-3) T-2:50 A-352
HR BRY - Pat O'Connor (7).
HR FAU - Griffiths (2).
Weather: 76 degree, ENE 17, Sunny
Almeida faced 3 batters in the 7th.
O'Neil faced 2 batters in the 8th.