Birdball: Eagles Reign Triumphant in Holy War
By: Luke Ballard
The Boston College Eagles (34–14–0, 16–8–0 Atlantic Coast Conference) traveled to South Bend, Indiana, this past weekend to claim the Holy War series crown versus catholic school rival Notre Dame (19–20–0, 6–18–0 ACC) in a 2–1 series win.
After the Eagles’ series victory, the chance of a Brighton Regional happening has become increasingly more likely. As it stands, if BC wants to lock up the home-field advantage come NCAA Tournament time, they will need to reach 20 ACC wins, according to D1Baseball.com & Perfect Game.
BC has six ACC games remaining, split between two weekend series with Clemson in South Carolina and with national powerhouse Georgia Tech in Brighton. In an odd end to the season, as they face off with Clemson, who is dead-last in the ACC, and GT, who is first in the ACC, the Eagles will look to continue to play their small-ball bunt-and-run style of play.
Carrying this preparation forward, the Eagles handled another mid-week game by taking down the UMass Lowell Riverhawks 7–6 last night, which leaves them appearing as ready as possible for their upcoming conference matchup in South Carolina.
The bats stayed hot for Nick Wang and Julio Soiler as the pair combined for seven hits and six RBIs in game two’s 16–1 victory. Soiler went 4-of-5 at the plate, while scoring twice, including a 3-run home run shot in the eighth inning to put the Eagles up 9–1. Wang would continue to pile it on as he would poke a single through shortly after to extend the lead to 16–1, batting in Ben Williams and Danny Surowiec.
This was Wang’s 38th home run for Boston College, as he now sits third all time in career home runs for Boston College with games to play. Wang is chasing 2007 graduate Sean McGowan who is the current all time holder with 53.
In what was his best showing of the year, senior first baseman Kyle Wolff homered three times in BC’s two wins, including a ninth-inning shot in game three, which drove in two runs to put the Eagles ahead 7–6. Wolff’s stellar performance marks his 16th hit and 22nd RBI of his senior campaign. The Eagles will certainly look to senior leadership as they enter the toughest stretch of the season, starting with the GT series and hopefully continuing with a regional in Brighton after what is sure to be a deep ACC Tournament run.
The Eagles bullpen was on full display yet again, seeing contributions from the entire group, including an impressive save from Gavin Soares in game 3 to close out the series.
With this weekend triumph, BC now ranks No. 13 in nation per Perfect Game, No. 14 per Baseball America, and No. 20 per D1Baseball.com. As for the NPI rankings, BC currently sits at No. 25 with work to do down the stretch.