April 20, 2005

Box Score

LOWELL, Mass. - The Minutemen lost their opening Beanpot game to cross state rival Harvard by the score of 11-5. The Crimson scored five times in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the game away. Junior outfielder Derrick Durepo extended his hitting streak to five games while senior Jason Twomley reached base four times to extend his streak to 14 games.

After Harvard closed out the second inning with three runs, the Minutemen struck back with three of their own in the top half of the third. Durepo singled to begin the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Harvard hurler Brad Unger. Sophomore Bill Rankin singled to left center to bring home Durepo. After a walk to Twoomley, senior Curt Szado singled home Rankin and moved Twomley over to third. Twomely would score on Unger's second wild pitch of the inning.

The Crimson responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning thanks in large part to back-to-back doubles by Steffan Wilson and Zak Farkes. The teams exchanged runs in the fifth inning making the score 6-4 after five complete.

The Minutemen pulled within one in the 7th as Curt Szado yet again singled home Rankin and moved Twomely to third. Rob Wheeler hit sophomore Bryan Adamski with a pitch to load the basses. What seemed like yet another two out rally for the Minutemen came up short as a hard hit grounder by freshman Bryan Garrity hit Adamski in the foot as he advanced from first to second.

Harvard pulled away in the bottom half of the inning as back-to-back walks by Wilson and Schuyler Mann started a big inning for the Crimson. Singles by Brendan Byrne, Jason Brown, and Ian Wallace along with a triple by Matt Vance produced five runs to extend Harvard's lead to the final of 11-5.

Offesnively, the Minutemen were lead by Curt Szado who whet 2-4 and drove in two runs to raise his season total to eight. Garrity had yet another solid day at the plate with two hits while Twomley went 1-2 with three walks.

On the hill, Harvard reliever Taylor Meean picked up his first win of the season throwing 3.2 innings while allowing just four hits and one unearned run. The Minutemen's starter David Sullivan took the loss and fell to 1-4 on the season.

The Minutemen will return to action tomorrow at Fenway Park in Boston where they will take on Boston College in the consolation game of the Beanpot. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.