WALTHAM, Mass. – Pat Heber and the No. 10 Bentley baseball team made history by toppling Goldey-Beacom, 11-2, in the Falcons' first ever NCAA Championship game Friday afternoon.
Goldey-Beacom lost to Wilmington (Del.) earlier Friday, which means the Lightning are eliminated from the NCAA East Regional. The rest of the weekend is effectively a best-of-three series between Bentley and Wilmington. Those teams go head-to-head for one game Saturday, May 16, at 3 p.m. The series will conclude Sunday, May 17.
Heber struck out nine batters through seven innings, allowing just two runs on five hits. He improved to 9-0 this season, matching teammate
Sam Belliveau for the school for most wins in a season.
Jared Berardino is demonstrating a knack for igniting the Bentley offense this postseason. When Bentley clinched its first ever Northeast 10 title at Southern New Hampshire, he crushed a home run in his first at-bat. Likewise against Goldey-Beacom, Berardino homered in his first at-bat to spark the Falcons' first ever NCAA Championship win.
The home run cut the Falcons' deficit to 2-1, but they pulled ahead in the second inning.
Brendan Sencaj led off the bottom of the second with a single, and he moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by
Curt Heath.
Jake Maydak stepped to the plate and ripped an RBI double to fight field to tie the game, 2-2.
Jimmy Mitchell followed with a double of his own to plate Maydak for a 3-2 Bentley lead.
Bentley added three more runs in the fifth inning. Mitchell led off by hitting a wall-scraping double.
Tommy Bolton drew a walk, and Berardino was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Nick Pappas put a charge into what looked destined to be a grand slam. However, the rainy weather knocked the ball down at the warning track for a sacrifice fly that scored Mitchell. An RBI groundball by Sencaj, and an errant throw by the Lightning second baseman, accounted Bentley's two other runs in the fifth.
The Falcons tacked on five runs in the seventh inning for good measure. Sencaj was standing in the box with an 0-2 count and the bases loaded when he delivered a two-run single to left field. Maydak drove in a run with a sacrifice fly during the rally, and
Tommy Goonan got an RBI by executing a squeeze bunt that scored Sencaj from third.
Berardino finished the game 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Sencaj drove in three runs while hitting 2-for-5, and Mitchell (2-for-3) also put forth a multi-hit effort.
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