Lost Faces in the Crowd

-Keefe
TRISTAN BESSE

New Bedford, MA > Baseball

This must have slipped through the fingers of the people at SI roughly 7 years ago, but luckily we here at the Sports Brief are bringing it back to life. It's our first edition of "Lost Faces in the Crowd." Why not start with one of our own. That's right, Tristan Besse is our first subject. His accomplishments will no longer go unnoticed by the masses. Here is the actual write-up following the game on that fateful afternoon.

The following is courtesy of Jana Brown.

Besse '02 Throws a No-Hitter 5/16/2001

What a day it was for SPS pitcher and slugger Tristan Besse '02. Besse not only threw a no-hitter in the Big Red baseball team's 15-3 win over St. Mark's, but he also went five for five from the plate with a double, two triples, and five runs scored.

St. Mark's scored all of its runs in the second inning off an error, three walks, a hit batsmen, and a wild pitch. Besse then settled down and retired the next 18 batters he faced, striking out 12. St. Paul's (6-6) scored two runs each in the first, second and fourth innings before exploding for five in the sixth and four more runs in the seventh inning to break open the game.

In the first inning, SPS scored on respective singles by Besse and Brian Sharkey '02 to open the game. A walk to Mike Hutchins '02 (3-4, 2B, 3B, 5 RBIs ) loaded the bases, setting the stage for Ryan Davey's '01 (1-4, 3 RBIs) two-RBI double. In the second inning, Kris Desmarais '03 (2-4, 2 runs) beat out a one-out infield hit, stole second and scored on a double by Besse. Besse took third on a passed ball and Sharkey drove him in on a groundout to short. Besse smacked a one-out single in the fourth inning, stole second base and scored on a Kent Frees '01 (2-4, 3B, 3 runs) triple over the right fielder's head. Frees then scored when Hutchins hit a two-out single left field.

Desmarais led off the sixth inning with a line-drive single to right center, and scored on Besse's triple into the left-center gap. Sharkey and Frees walked to load the bases, and a wild pitch scored Besse and moved the others to second and third. Hutchins drove them in with a double and took third base on a wild pitch. Davey continued to produce with runners in scoring position by lifting a sacrifice fly that scored Hutchins and gave SPS an 11-3 advantage.

The SPS bats stayed alive in the seventh as Besse tripled with two outs and scored on a passed ball. Allin Bond '03 reached first on an error, Frees singled, and an opposite-field triple by Hutchins drove in two runs for his fourth and fifth RBIs of the game. Hutchins scored on a wild pitch to round out the scoring. Hutchins is now batting .576, putting him at the top of the ISL, and has an incredible 1.000 slugging percentage.

What a shame that we scored 15 runs and I can't find my way into the write up. What happened there? I did play in this game, and was a part of history, you'll just have to take my word for it. Hope you enjoyed it.