Boston College Baseball is having a record year as the only northern team ranked in the top 25, and, as of March 27th, climbed to number 14 in D1 baseball. They entered this past weekend with a 15-4 record overall and 4-2 in conference. While they were ranked in the preseason last year, this season has seen more continued success than in the past. Their in-conference failures of the past few seasons were abruptly halted when they won their first conference series since 2019 against Virginia Tech.
This past weekend, Boston College faced off against North Carolina in a best of three conference series. With BC ranked just above NC State, the first home series for the Eagles was a highly anticipated match. They managed to win both the first and last games of the series to improve their overall record to 17-5 and their conference record to 6-3.
Friday’s game went according to plan for the Eagles, and they beat their conference rivals 4-1. Their excellent defense was led by starting pitcher Henry Leake, who pitched for six innings and only gave up up three hits and one run. Even after Leake was taken out, pitchers Joey Ryan and Andrew Roman only gave up four more hits with none amounting to any runs. The Eagles also limited themselves to one error—compared to the Wolfpack’s four—which contributed to the comfortable win for Boston College.
Right fielder Travis Honeyman was the Eagles’ star on the offensive side of the ball as he had a home run and a double. These accounted for three of the four Eagles runs. By scoring three runs in the third and another in the fourth, the game was never at risk for Boston College as they provided their fans with a stress-free win to kick off their weekend series.
Saturday’s game was postponed to Sunday morning due to rain and ended up being the Eagles’ worst performance of the weekend. They started hot with a 2-0 lead in the third inning on runs scored by Vince Cimini and Joe Vetrano, but quickly fell behind in the sixth as the Wolfpack scored five to go up 6-2. While the game was ostensibly over by the eighth inning, NC State still put up another six runs to turn what was a somewhat close game into a 12-2 blowout.
Taking a closer look at the stats does the Eagles no favors as NC State tripled their hits (18-6) and scored eight runs off of BC pitcher Eric Schroeder alone. While neither team recorded an error, it’s clear the Eagles had trouble getting off the field in both the sixth and eighth innings in which they gave up 11 of their 12 runs.
Luckily for Boston College, Sunday was a double header and they would have a chance to win the weekend series despite a pitiful performance just hours before. With both teams now familiar with the other’s playing style, the final game turned out to be the closest and most exciting yet.
North Carolina got out to an early lead putting up three on the Eagles in the third inning, causing starting pitcher John West to be pulled. Boston College managed to score a run in both the fourth and fifth with RBI’s from Leary and Vetrano. Their hits pulled them within one. However, the top of the sixth inning saw the Wolfpack score four runs off pitchers Matthew Nunan and Joey Ryan who came in relief. By the time Boston College managed to get off the field, the crowd had quieted down considerably as it seemed like this game would be a repeat of the previous.
While the Eagles’ resolve might have been lacking last game, they came out in full force in the bottom of the sixth, determined not to lose twice in one day. Burns’ single to left field drove in Leary and Roche to make it 7-4 with only one out in the inning. The very next at bat, Nick Wang, hit a two run shot that cleared the trees in center field, causing the crowd to go ecstatic. The Eagles had now matched NC State’s run total for the inning and pulled themselves back into what seemed to be another blowout.
Despite the torrent of hits in the sixth, the next few innings saw little offense except for another home run from Nick Wang in the bottom of the eighth. This tied the game. The Eagles threatened to win in the bottom of the ninth, but a ground ball to second base from Cimini pushed the game into extra innings.
In the tenth inning, it was clear the Eagles were in control. The Wolfpack went 0-3 at bat with two ground outs and a strikeout looking to end the inning. With the crowd on their feet, the Eagles went to bat, and NC State didn’t have an answer for them. The bases were loaded as Travis Honeyman went to the plate and he hit a sac fly to right field to drive Burns home.
In a come-from-behind victory the Eagles managed to beat their conference rivals and win the weekend series 2-1 despite being outscored by a total of 20-14. Catch the next matchup for Boston College Baseball at the University of Connecticut on Tuesday, March 8th.
Boston College Baseball Roster: https://bceagles.com/sports/baseball/roster
Political Science major with a small Fantasy Football addiction
