An exciting trip down to Florida for the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational couldn’t have concluded any better for the Beacons’ baseball team. The last game of the trip was against the Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Devils (1). This game was a very important one for Beacon Head Coach Brendan Eygabroat. He has now become the first coach in the history of the UMass Boston baseball program to reach 400 wins (2). 

For the most part, the game was a dominant showing from the Beacons. They got on the board fast in the second inning with a triple from infielder Giannis Zarilli Jr. Two more runs came in the third inning with an Aidan Blake triple and Nick Palma sacrifice fly, giving the Beacons a 3–0 lead (2). 

The sixth inning came around and the Devils still couldn’t score. The Beacons, on the other hand, added an additional four runs to their lead. Outfielder Justin Gouveia led off with a triple and scored after a fielder’s choice from Joey Morrison. Morrison scored himself after a Metzdorf hit resulted in an error (2). 

The Devils continued playing sloppy defense. Another error off of a hit from Blake caused Metzdorf to score, and a throwing error from Devils’ catcher Chris Kubas caused Blake to run in one final run to close the inning. An elite pitching performance from Dillon Ryan, alongside the stellar Beacon offense, made the Devils look silly, but things weren’t totally secure yet (2). 

After seven innings of play, the Devils finally managed to add a run to their score, but their pitching allowed the Beacons to answer fast. A balk and a wild pitch from the Devils allowed Breon Parker and the Beacons to add three final runs to their total, seemingly putting the game away, as they led by nine runs and only needed one more to initiate the mercy rule (2). 

However, the Beacons were hit with quite a scare in the eighth inning. The Devils finally began to click and put together six runs in the eighth, making the score 10–7. Suddenly, the Beacons were on their toes and met with a tough situation. Pitcher Josh Garner came to the rescue, leaving the Devils with a scoreless ninth inning and saving the game for the Beacons, securing Coach Eygabroat’s 400th win as the trip down south came to a close (2). 

A morale booster doesn’t begin to describe hitting that milestone, and the Beacons carried their momentum to Providence in their next game (1). The Beacons’ game against Johnson & Wales University and the Wildcats was nothing short of a thriller. Beacons’ Pitcher Tim Ciancolo got lit up to start the game with several hits, including a Trevor Juan solo home run, putting the Wildcats up four runs (3). 

Two doubles in the second extended the Wildcat lead to six, a very worrisome start for the Beacons. However, the third inning was a different story when Zarilli Jr. hit a grand slam to cut the lead to two. The excitement was short-lived, as five Wildcat runs in the next two innings put the Beacons back into an 11–5 hole; Metzdorf scored on a wild pitch in the fifth (3).  

That would be the last time the Wildcats scored, as the Beacons dominated the second half of play. Palma, Morrison and the Beacons fought to get themselves back into the game, and by the time the ninth inning came around, the lead was cut to one (3).  

Nick Farnacci, a freshman who had only one previous at-bat all season, gave the Beacons the lead in the ninth with a Runs Batted In single. Zarilli Jr extended the lead to two runs and pitcher Sam Gray closed it out for the Beacons (3). 

A miraculous comeback following a historic milestone might be exactly what the Beacons need to push themselves into overdrive. This is exactly what a team would need to pull off to get hot, so do not be surprised if the Beacons string together a win streak in the next coming games. 

Sources 

1.     https://beaconsathletics.com/sports/baseball/schedule 

2.     https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/3/17/brendan-eygabroat-earns-400th-career-win-baseball-closes-florida-trip-with-win.aspx 

3.     https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/3/22/eight-is-great-eight-unanswered-runs-propel-baseball-to-comeback-victory-over-johnson-wales.aspx