COLLEGE NOTES

Locals compete in NCAA baseball tournament

By Brenden Soares
Posted 6/14/16

The opening weekend of the NCAA baseball tournament is in the books, and it was a decidedly mixed bag for the three players with Warwick connections competing on the diamond. Hendricken alum Mike King helped Boston College reach its first-ever super

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COLLEGE NOTES

Locals compete in NCAA baseball tournament

Posted

The opening weekend of the NCAA baseball tournament is in the books, and it was a decidedly mixed bag for the three players with Warwick connections competing on the diamond.

Hendricken alum Mike King helped Boston College reach its first-ever super regional, while fellow ex-Hawk Reed Gamache and Moses Brown product Robby Rinn finished their collegiate careers with a pair of quick defeats.

The Eagles became only the second team from New England to qualify for the super regional round since the format was introduced in 1999 on Sunday courtesy of a 6-3 triumph over Tulane in Oxford, Mississippi. The Green Wave were unable to exact revenge for the 7-2 setback dealt to them by BC in the regional opener on Friday.

King’s involvement in this historic accomplishment came on Saturday as he got the ball for the Eagles in their contest versus Utah, but he encountered early difficulty as the Utes quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

The Pac-12 champions then extended their lead to 3-0 in the fourth thanks to a Cody Scaggari base hit that brought home AJ Young.

In the following frame, King finally received some support courtesy of the bat of Johnny Adams as he grounded into a double play but not before Joe Cronin crossed home to break up the Utah shutout.

The BC renaissance culminated in the seventh with a three-run frame that was sparked by a throwing error from Ute reliever Hunter Rodriguez that enabled Adams to score and narrow the deficit to 3-2.

A bases-loaded walk issued to Nick Sciortino leveled the score, setting the stage for Donovan Casey to put the Eagles up for good with a fielder’s choice that delivered Jake Palomaki.

While his teammates were getting it done with their bats, King was cooling down after putting in 6 2/3 innings of work on the mound, scattering seven hits and striking out a pair on his way to a no-decision.

Next up for the Boston College nine is a trip to South Florida this upcoming weekend, but rather than taking their talents to South Beach, they will be taking on intraconference rival and four-time national champion Miami for a spot in the College World Series.

The Eagles will be looking to end a lengthy drought when they take on the Hurricanes in their best-of-three series, as they made their most recent trip to Omaha back in 1967, seven years before the Miami program made its first CWS appearance.

Meanwhile, much was expected from Rinn and the rest of the Bryant squad as they arrived in Charlottesville, Virginia, to take on East Carolina in its regional opener on Friday, but the Pirates had other ideas.

The contest was scoreless after six innings, but after ECU opened the scoring in the seventh with a Bryce Harman sacrifice fly that plated Travis Watkins, they exploded with a seven-run eighth that saw the Bulldogs burn through three pitchers to get out of the frame.

The Bryant nine was able to prevent the shutout with one out in their half of the ninth, Rinn grounding out to Harman, but not before driving home Dan Cellucci.

In the end, the Bulldogs fell to East Carolina 9-1 and now had to focus their energy on Saturday’s do-or-die encounter versus William & Mary, who dropped down to the losers bracket after being routed 17-4 by regional host Virginia the previous day.

The Tribe got things going in the third as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Rinn got a run back for Bryant in the following frame by depositing Nick Brown’s payoff pitch beyond the right field fence for his sixth home run of the season.

William & Mary restored its three-run lead in the fifth with a homer from leadoff man Ryan Hall, who clobbered Brandon Bingel’s offering beyond the reach of left fielder AJ Zarozny.

Two innings later, Bulldog third baseman Zach Wood continued the home run derby with a solo shot of his own, while Buck McCarthy’s sacrifice fly drove home Cole Fabio in the eighth to narrow the deficit to 4-3.

The Bryant comeback bid ended up falling short in the ninth, as Tribe closer Joseph Gaouette closed the book on the Bulldogs’ 2016 season by picking up his 10th save of the season, despite allowing Wood to reach base with two outs.

Finally, Gamache and Binghamton faced a real challenge from host Texas A&M to open play in the College Station, Texas, regional, eventually emerging with a creditable 4-2 loss to the homestanding Aggies.

A three-run second inning doomed the Bearcats to the loser’s bracket, where they had to face Minnesota in a bid to continue their season.

The Golden Gophers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top half of the fifth, which Binghamton matched in the bottom portion of the frame, with Gamache scoring the tying run.

However, any hope of an upset went up in smoke in the following inning when Toby Hanson clubbed his first-career triple to put Minnesota ahead and on their way to an 8-5 victory.

Gamache finished his career with a 1-for-4 day at the plate, which extended his on-base streak to 27 games dating back to April 16.

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