Teams: Baseball: Schedule & Results

O'CONNOR SCORES THREE AND DRIVES IN THREE AS BENTLEY EDGES TUFTS, 12-11

COLLEGE BASEBALL FINAL SCORE
Bentley 12    Tufts 11

At Waltham, MA
Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Game Box Score

WALTHAM -- Junior DH Mike O'Connor (Wilbraham, MA) drove in three runs and scored three times, including the winning run, with a 4 for 5 day as Bentley edged Tufts University, 12-11, in non-conference college baseball Wednesday afternoon at DeFelice Field.

Freshman lefty Scott Kickery (East Hartford, CT) pitched three scoreless innings of relief to earn his first collegiate win and help Bentley improve to 16-19-1 overall. Tufts, which had overcome a 10-3 deficit to take a one-run lead, saw its four-game win streak halted and fell to 16-12.

In the sixth inning, after Tufts scored four times in the top half to go up 11-10, junior 1B Tom Haugh (Andover, MA) and senior RF GJ Vicente (Salem, NH) led off with singles, chasing starter Ben Simon (Providence, RI) from the game. After Haugh was thrown out stealing on a failed hit-and-run attempt, O'Connor greeted reliever Derek Rice (Braintree, MA) with a double to left, scoring Vicente with the tying run.

Junior second baseman Tim Denehy (Norwood, MA) followed with another two-bagger to left, with O'Connor scoring to give the lead back to the Falcons. It was the third RBI of the game for Denehy, who was 2 for 3.

Kickery came in to start the seventh, and shut the door on the Jumbos, who had scored 11 runs in the previous four innings. He retired the side in order in the seventh, started an inning-ending double play in the eighth to erase a walk, and closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth. The final out was a strikeout of senior CF Jim O'Leary (North Easton, MA), who came in hitting .479 for the season and was three-for-five with two doubles at the time.

Bentley had jumped out to a 5-0 in the first, with both O'Connor (single) and Denehy (double) driving in two. After Tufts scored three times in the top of the third, the Falcons extended their lead to 10-3 with five unearned runs in the bottom half of the frame.

Tufts eventually evened the game at 10 apiece on a two-run double by senior SS Greg Chertok (New City, NY), and took the lead when Chertok scored on a single by junior 2B Brian Casey (Milford, MA).

In addition to four hits by O'Connor and two from Denehy, Bentley also received two hits apiece from sophomore C Joe Nardi (West Hartford, CT), senior 3B Chad Mastin (Newmarket, NH), Haugh and Vicente. O'Leary and junior DH Nick Curato (Cumberland, ME) had three hits apiece for Tufts, and Casey had three RBI.

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