After their mid-week game against Maine was postponed, Boston College baseball traveled to Virginia over the weekend for the Central Virginia Invitational. They faced off against Richmond, William & Mary, and VCU, taking two out of the three games and improving to 6-3.
On Friday, with ace John West on the bump, Birdball cruised to a 7-2 victory. West earned his first win of the season on the back of six scoreless innings and six strikeouts. The BC offense scored twice in the top of the second on a two-run single by Sam McNulty.
In the sixth, with the bases loaded, Vince Cimini was hit by a pitch, allowing Nick Wang to saunter home and put the Eagles up 3-0. The next batter, Parker Landwehr, hit a grounder to short that scored Kyle Wolff from third. After Richmond went to the bullpen, Cam Caraher lined a pitch to right field to give BC a 5-0 lead.
The Spiders scored twice on a double down the fight field line in the seventh inning, but didn’t score again. Birdball added to its lead in the eighth after Caraher laced a pitch into right and a throwing error allowed Cimini and Cameron Leary to score. Caraher finished the game going three for four with 3 RBI and one run.
After West left the game, Kyle Kipp made his second appearance of the season, pitching one inning and allowing two runs while also striking out two. Eric Schroeder finished the game for the Eagles, going two scoreless frames with four punch outs.
On Saturday afternoon, BC came from behind to beat the William & Mary Tribe by a score of 9-7. The Eagles struck for two runs in the second on a single by McNulty, but the Tribe responded in a big way in the bottom of the inning.
With A.J. Colarusso pitching, the Tribe scored six times: once on a bases loaded walk, once on a bases loaded HBP, and capped off the inning with a grand slam. But the Eagles tied the game after scoring two in the third, and one in both the fourth and fifth innings.
With Caraher and Wolff on base in the third, Cimini reached on an error by the shortstop that allowed Caraher to score. Wolff scored another unearned run after catcher John Collins singled to right. The next inning, with the bases loaded, Wolff earned an RBI on a fielder’s choice. After Cimini Patrick Roche walked and successfully pulled off a double steal, McNulty hit a sac fly to tie the game in the top of the fifth.
William & Mary took the lead right back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI triple, but Birdball pitching held the Tribe scoreless for the rest of the ballgame. In the sixth, Wang singled and Wolff Walked to bring up Leary. He hit an RBI single to right field and then Cimini also singled to right, giving the Eagles an 8-7 lead.
Birdball scored the final run of the game in the eight after Caraher singled, stole second, and scored on a double by Leary. After BC’s early pitching woes, the bullpen only gave up one run in 7.1 innings of work. Tyler Mudd earned his second win of the year, going 4.1 frames, allowing one run and striking out eight batters. Michael Farinelli got the save after pitching three scoreless innings with 5 strikeouts.
But on Sunday, BC’s bats went quiet, the pitching staff had a day to forget, and the team lost to VCU 10-1. But on the bright side, in his first start of the season, junior Matthew Nunan pitched well, going three innings and giving up one run and striking out one.
Through nine games, Birdball is 6-3 and should feel good about the start to its 2024 season. The pitching has been concerning at times though: the Eagles have given up seven or more runs in five games already. The offense, on the other hand, has been very good and nearly every position player has already contributed in meaningful ways. The season is still young, giving BC’s pitching staff plenty of time to catch up to the team’s bats. Birdball will be back in action again on Tuesday when they travel to play UNC Wilmington.