Baseball Drops Extra Inning Heartbreaker at Babson 5-4

Babson Park, Mass. -- Junior pinch-runner Brian Besinger (Milton, Mass.) scampered home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 11th inning to enable the Babson College baseball team to claim its second extra-inning win in four days, as the Beavers defeated visiting Framingham State University, 5-4, in non-conference action on Tuesday afternoon.

With their second straight win, the Beavers improved to 4-5 on the year, while the Rams slipped to 5-6.

After being held hitless for the first five innings, Framingham State finally broke through against Babson junior starter Brian Swanton (Foxboro, Mass.) in the top of the sixth. Senior Pedro Acevedo (Fall River, Mass.) singled up the middle to start the frame and, two batters later, senior Chris Blydell (Lynn, Mass.) launched a two-run homer over the wall in center for a 2-0 advantage. The Rams would threaten for more when the next two batters singled, but Swanton pitched out of further trouble by inducing an inning-ending fly out to left.

Framingham doubled its lead in the seventh, beginning when first-year John Gill (Hudson, Mass.) singled with one out and came all the way around to score on a trio of wild pitches. Sophomore Ivan Colon (Waltham, Mass.) then added an RBI-single down the left field line to plate Acevedo later in the inning for a 4-0 Ram cushion.

Following six shutout innings from Framingham senior starter Ryan Stoller (Milton, Mass.), the Babson bats came alive with a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by a huge two-out hit by senior Joe Nixon (Foxboro, Mass.).

After first-year DH Joe Zanca (Braintree, Mass.) singled with one away, an outfield error on a base hit by junior Conor Kortmann (Manalapan, N.J.) allowed pinch-runner Michael Duffy (Milton, Mass.) to score all the way from first for Babson's first run of the afternoon. Later in the frame, back-to-back walks with two outs loaded the bases for Nixon, who stroked a single up the middle to plate two more as the Beavers cut their deficit to 4-3.

Things stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth, when Babson senior captain Travis Jonasson (Needham, Mass.) crushed his first home run of the season well over the wall in right-center, tying the contest at 4-4. The hosts then put the potential winning run on second in each of the next two innings, but the Rams escaped unscathed to keep the game going.

The Beavers finally secured the victory in the bottomf the 11th, as Kortmann led off with an infield single to third. Besinger then pinch ran and was immediately sacrificed to second by senior captain Sean Cleary (Milton, Mass.), and freshman pinch-hitter Dillon Gonzalez (Beverly, Mass.) drew an intentional walk to put runners on first and second with one away.

After a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, Framingham got a huge out with the infield and outfield drawn in when junior Trevor Boyce's (Canton, Mass.) sharply-hit grounder was handled by second baseman Colon. However, with Nixon at the plate, Rams' freshman reliever Patrick Murray's (Framingham, Mass.) pitch got away, allowing Besinger to race home with the game-winning run.

For the second time in four days, Babson senior Rick Gilbody (Hanover, Mass.) (2-0) earned the win with a spectacular performance out of the bullpen. After giving up hits to the first two batters he faced in the seventh, the veteran right-hander set down 12 straight and 14 of the next 15, walking one and striking out one in 4 2/3 innings of relief. Swanton also pitched well before running out of gas in the sixth, firing five no-hit innings before finishing with four runs allowed on five hits, three walks and four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

Stoller cruised until the seventh for the Rams, finishing with three runs allowed on five hits, walking three and fanning four in 6 2/3 innings. Junior Felipe Barahona (Lynn, Mass.) gave up one run on four hits in 2 2/3 innings of relief before giving way to Murray (3-1), who took the loss after going 1 1/3 and allowing the Beavers' final run.

The Rams return to action on Thursday at Johnson & Wales at 3:30 p.m.

Release courtesy of Babson Sports Information.