Winter Park, Florida (March 6)-The Saint Anselm College baseball team fell to conference rival Bentley in non-conference action 9-7 in Winter Park, Florida at Alfond Stadium Friday afternoon. The Hawks fall to 2-7 on the year, while Bentley improves to 2-6 on the campaign.

The Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a two-RBI double from freshman first baseman Benjamin Waldrip (Medford, Mass.) scoring TJ Murphy (Reading, Mass.) and Ben Gunn (Vineyard Haven, Mass.).

Bentley would cross the plate in the top of the third on a sac-fly from Chris Hardy (Warwick, R.I.) to cut the Hawks lead in half. In the bottom of the third Gunn would score again on an RBI single from Jimmy Garrigan (Plymouth, Mass.) to make the Hawks lead 3-1.

In the fourth both teams would add another run before Bentley took the lead in the top of the fifth led by a home run by Falcon catcher Mike DeCoste (Chelmsford, Mass.) for the 5-4 lead.

Bentley would erupt for four more runs in the top of the eighth led by a two-RBI single through the left side of the infield by DeCoste for the 9-4 advantage.

In the bottom of the ninth Saint Anselm mounted a comeback on a three-RBI triple from Eric Simm (Salem, N.H.) to cut the lead to 9-7. But it was not enough as Bentley would grab their second win of the year.

Saint Anselm starter Matt Stone (West Roxbury, Mass.) went seven innings giving up five runs in the losing effort, while Bentley reliever Matt Boudrow (Dedham, Mass.) went over five innings in relief to pick up the win.

The Hawks return to action tomorrow with non-conference games against American International and Bentley at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. hosted by Rollins College.