Boston College baseball (10-11, 3-6) had a full slate of home games last week after being swept by Florida State the weekend before. On Tuesday, the Eagles welcomed Sacred Heart University (9-9, 4-2) to the Harrington Athletics Village and beat the Pioneers, 8-3.
Eric Schroeder started on the mound for BC and tossed three shutout innings, with no hits and two strikeouts. Gavin Soares relieved him and threw two scoreless innings of his own earning his first win of the season. Three BC batters had two hits and six different players drove in runs.
Josiah Ragsdale went 2-3 from the leadoff spot and also had 2 RBIs. Patrick Roche, Jack Toomey, Kyle Wolff, Vince Cimini, and Beck Milner also drove in runs as the Eagles cruised to an easy win.
Wednesday’s win was even sweeter than Tuesday’s because it came against the rival Northeastern Huskies (12-7, 0-0). Starter Brady Miller threw five shutout innings, allowing just three hits and striking out six, on the way to his first win of the season. JD Ogden and Alex Bryant each threw two scoreless innings and the Eagles won in dominant fashion, 6-0.
After Wolff drove in Ragsdale in the first inning, BC didn’t look back. This time, five different players finished with RBIs, including Roche, Wolff, Sam McNulty, Owen DeShazo, and Gunnar Johnson, who had two. After winning two games in a row, Birdball looked to extend their winning streak when No. 17 North Carolina (17-5, 3-4) came to town.
Unfortunately, BC was outmatched for most of the weekend. Friday’s game remained competitive until the late innings, but the Tarheels won, 5-1. A.J. Colarusso started for the Eagles and pitched well. He made it through four innings before allowing his first run and threw 6.1 innings of three-run ball. But UNC’s pitching was even better: they held the Eagles to just three hits and one run, ending BC’s short winning streak.
Saturday’s game was another pitching duel, but this time BC’s offense did just enough to win the game 3-2. Tyler Mudd started the game and held the Tarheels to just one run on one hit. While UNC did take a 1-0 lead in the third, Patrick Roche clobbered a three-run home run to left field in the fifth and that was all that the BC pitching needed to ensure the win. Kyle Kipp tossed 1.2 scoreless innings to earn his first win and Joey Ryan was lights out again, throwing three scoreless innings, striking out five, and earning his fourth save of the year.
The Birdball pitching staff didn’t turn in a good performance on Sunday, however, and North Carolina won 10-0 in a run-rule-shortened affair. With Schroeder back on the mound, UNC torched him, scoring seven runs in the first two innings. The Tarheel pitchers completely stifled BC’s bats, allowing just one run in seven innings.
Birdball is now 3-6 in ACC play, which places them 14th in the conference. This week, the Eagles will play UConn in Storrs on Tuesday before a home series against Pitt over the weekend.