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Terriers come undone

Staff and Wire Service Reports / May 16, 2009
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Six outs away from its first NCAA tournament victory since 1996, Boston University unraveled and lost to host school Georgia Tech, 5-1, last night as the Atlanta Regional got underway.

BU senior Cassidi Hardy retired her first 10 batters and allowed just two hits before encountering big trouble in the sixth, when the Yellow Jackets (44-13) scored all their runs. Hardy committed a throwing error to allow the first batter to reach, then gave up a double, RBI fielder's choice, and run-scoring single.

Hardy picked up one of her six strikeouts for the second out of the inning, but Georgia Tech sophomore third baseman Kristen Atkins launched a three-run homer to left field.

The Terriers (42-16) will face Iowa (42-13) in an elimination game today at 3:30 p.m.

NCAA Div. 1 championships - UMass ace Brandice Balschmiter won her 10th career game in NCAA tournament play, tossing a four-hit shutout as the Minutewomen got started in the Amherst Regional with an 8-0 victory over Cornell. Balschmiter, who led the nation with 20 shutouts this season, struck out nine over six innings (mercy rule). It was UMass's first shutout in a tournament game in 13 years. The senior's 32d win this season tied her own school record. UMass (39-8) broke it open in the fifth on a two-run homer by senior Samantha Salato . . . In the opening game of the Amherst Regional, Sacred Heart (25-27) was routed by Washington, 9-1, in its first tournament appearance.

NCAA Div. 3 championships - Tufts (43-1) earned its first-ever tournament victory, beating Cortland State, 3-1, in Montclair, N.J. Casey Sullivan had the go-ahead RBI single in the fifth.

Baseball
NCAA Div. 2 championships - Dominican knocked out Franklin Pierce, 5-4, in the East Regional, getting eight strong innings from Brian Craig in Rindge, N.H. The Ravens (37-18) gave up an unearned run in the ninth . . . Assumption (33-20-1) struck out 13 times in a 2-0 defeat to Adelphi, its first tournament loss.

NCAA Div. 3 championships - Jeremiah Bayer scattered seven hits in a complete-game effort and Trinity posted a 6-0 win over Southern Maine in the New England regional in Mansfield, Conn. Southern Maine was later ousted with a 7-2 loss to Eastern Connecticut (37-7) in which the Warriors' Shawn Gilblair struck out 14. Trinity (32-5) capped the night with a 14-0 pasting of WPI . . . Ethan Guerette had four of Husson's 17 hits and the Eagles (33-13) eliminated Babson, 10-6.

Material from school websites was used in this report.

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