Benoit on Point in Victory over Taconic
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Taconic baseball team avoided a no-hitter, but it could not avoid a defeat at the hands of Tyler Benoit and his Drury teammates. Benoit flirted with a no-hitter late into the game, eventually allowing one hit in six innings of work before handing the ball over to sophomore Alex Bush in the seventh frame. The two combined to give up two hits overall and the Blue Devils offense took control of the game with a four-run second inning on their way to a 7-0 win at Joe Wolfe Field on Friday afternoon.Benoit had great control against the Braves, striking out 10 batters without a walk to improve his season record to 2-0. Taconic hurt itself with a key error that kept the second inning alive, allowing Drury (4-3) the chance to score four runs when the Braves could have gotten out of the inning unharmed. Taconic made five errors on the day compared to just one for the Devils.
Senior shortstop Chase Preite did the most damage for the Drury offense, going 2 for 4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Sophomore Cody Primmer also came through with two RBI and two runs scored, while third baseman Mike Tatro was his normal pesky self on the base paths, hustling his way around the diamond on his way to scoring a pair of runs.
"It was great team effort, and Tyler pitched a great game," Blue Devils head coach Al Marceau said. "He was in control from the first pitch. Getting some runs allowed us to get Tyler out of the game with a nice pitch count. Offensively, we didn't crush the ball, but we put it in play and made some things happen. We ran the bases extremely well and had timely hitting from Preite, Benoit and Primmer. When Tatro gets on base we are able to do so much with the running game. He makes things happen with his legs."
Drury returns to action Saturday with a 1 p.m. game against Rutland.