BIRDBALL RECALL: Heroics Beat the Hoos

BIRDBALL RECALL: Heroics Beat the Hoos

By Quinn Kelly

After having their previous weekend series cancelled on them, Birdball thought they’d make it up by giving us a little extra baseball this weekend versus Virginia.  The weekend started with a low-scoring affair that somehow still managed to a good deal over 3 hours.  Freshman Jacob Stevens would watch a stellar outing go to waste, as the Eagles were 1-hit by UVA’s ace Connor Jones in a 3-0 loss.  Day 2 would be a long one, too, with pitching once again being the hallmark of the matchup.  The Eagles would watch an early lead disappear only to walk-off in the 9th (in the funkiest of fashions) after being shutout for 7 straight innings.  The weekend was capped off in the only way imaginable for what truly seemed like a knock-em-out, drag-em-out kind of matchup: a 5 hour and 20 minute extra-innings extravaganza that once again saw the Eagles mobbing one of their own on the base path after another walk-off.  In all, Eagles fans were treated to about 12 hours’ worth of baseball that had no shortage of great pitching, nor late game heroics.

Day 1: Loss 3-0

There was definitely an interesting feel going into the first of three with the Cavaliers.  BC would be tasked with trying to generate offense against UVA’s ace and projected top-10 pick Connor Jones.  On the other side, BC would hold off on tossing their ace an instead throw Jacob Stevens, a freshman making his first home start, against the defending national champions.  Stevens would more than hold his own, proving that his team-low 0.45 ERA is no fluke.

The Choate Academy graduate would take to the hill just as the heavens decided they would open up over the Heights.  Stevens would allow a hit and give up a walk in the first as he pitched through a pretty gnarly hailstorm.  His counterpart would have to do the same, fairing a bit better with a 1-2-3 inning to get out of the hail quickly.  Just before the second, the hail stopped and the skies would remain clear for the rest of the afternoon, leaving only poor conditions that resulted in 3 Eagles errors behind.  Stevens would work a 1-2-3 top of the second to match Jones’s and send the Cavs back to the field.  Donovan Casey would lead the inning off.  On an 0-2 count, Casey hit a ball up the middle and was aboard with a single.  That would be the end of the Eagles offense for the day.  From then on, Connor Jones would be shutdown, pitching a complete game shutout and allowing only 5 more Eagles on by way of 4 walks and an error.

Stevens would run into trouble in the top of the third when a lead-off walk was followed by the first two of the Eagles three errors, allowing stud do-it-all man Adam Haseley to score the opening run.  After that, Stevens would hold the Cavaliers scoreless the next 3 innings before he exited after 6 strong innings and on the hook for the loss.  His final stat line reads as follows:

Stevens 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 6K

All said and done, Stevens had a fantastic outing.  The 5 walks are troublesome, but as has been said before, this is a necessary growing pain for freshman pitchers.  The 1 hit and 0 earned runs are incredible against another very strong visiting offense.  Coach Gambino has to be psyched to have this kid around for at least two more years.

The rest of the game was formality at that point, as the offense would show really no signs of getting them back into the game.  Skogsbergh looked great again in two innings of relief.  Two more runs would come in on his watch, both unearned and caused by another Eagles error.  For the second Friday in a row, the Eagles watched a manageable 1-run deficit going into the 9th increase to insurmountable heights.  It really stung that the Eagles offense couldn’t get anything done to get Stevens the win.  They looked terribly flat as they watched their scoreless inning streak increase to 19 innings.  Thankfully, that’s as far as the streak would go.

Day 2: Win 3-2

Saturday’s match-up would feature a Swiss Army Knife and a starter turned closer turned starter.  Virginia’s centerfielder Adam Haseley doubles as a top 2 pitcher who stays in his lead-off position in the line-up in place of a DH during his starts.  There’s not much this super sophomore can’t do on a baseball diamond and his talents were on full display this weekend.  For the Eagles, Justin Dunn would pack up his 95-97 MPH fastball and take a trip out of the back-end of the dugout for his first start of the season.  In the bottom of the first, BC would break its scoreless streak and bring two across.  Jake Palomaki walked to get things started.  Joe Cronin then doubled off the wall in left-center to bring Palomaki home.  He would be moved over on a sacrifice bunt and brought in by a sac fly from Michael Strem and Donovan Casey respectively.  Things looked bright for the Eagles when with the 2-0 lead, Palomaki doubled with two down in the 2nd.  He would advance to third on a passed ball before Cronin walked to make it first and third.  Haseley would get Strem to fly out to center to dim the lights on the Eagles, though.  In the following inning, the Eagles rekindled the flame and looked to be knocking again when Steven Sauter and Nick Sciortino singles created another first and third situation, this time with one out.  Somehow, the Eagles managed to squander the opportunity, however.  Gambino decided to send Sciortino on a delayed steal.  Johnny Bench Award hopeful Matt Thaiss would gun down his catching counterpart (on the field and the JB Award watch list) and nab the second out of the inning for the Cavs.  Haseley would follow it up by striking our Logan Hoggarth looking to turn the Eagles lights out for a few innings.

That strikeout would be the first of four in a row for Haseley, who would sit the Eagles down in order in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th.  Justin Dunn would finish his day out strong as well, giving up his second of two hits in the 5th before coming out of the game with this final stat line:

Dunn 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5K

Dunn was very effective in an outing that was about the length you’d expect from someone making his first start of the season.  It was definitely a scene for his outing, as the stands behind home were littered with radar guns trying to see where he’d top out (97 MPH on the day).  It was certainly encouraging to see that he also kept his velocity in the mid-90s throughout his outing.  Expect to see more quality starts from him in the future.

In the 6th, Brian Rapp came in to start his relief outing and would face the top of UVA’s order.  Haseley would help his own cause, starting the inning off with a walk.  Ernie Clement, the Cavs centerfielder, would reach on a bunt attempt that led to an error.  A wild pitch to Thaiss would send Haseley to third and Clement to second.  Thaiss would then get the Virginia on the board with a sacrifice groundout to second.  Pavin Smith, one of the heroes in UVA’s national championship run last year, came up next, trying to end his 4 straight strikeouts streak.  Rapp would only get one strike on him before he was able to double down the right field line, driving in Clement and evening the score at 2.

Rapp finished out the inning and worked 2/3 of the next before handing the ball off to Jesse Adams.  Adams held down the fort for the rest of the game, though not without a little drama.  Clement doubled to lead off the 8th and was moved along to third on another Thaiss groundout to second.  After Gambino chose to intentionally walk Smith, Daniel Pinero came up, hoping to take the lead for the Cavs.  He would lay down a bunt that went straight back to Adams, who smartly tossed it to Sciortino for the out, keeping the score at 2-2.  A huge strikeout on Doak Dozier (his fourth of the day, break out the sombrero!) would end the 8th.  A 1-2-3 9th brought the Eagles up with the chance to walk-off.

The Eagles would start the inning with Stephen Sauter, trying to end the Eagles streak of 16 straight retired.  He would face Tommy Doyle, coming in for Haseley, done after 8 innings.  Sauter wouldn’t be able to get anything going, striking out on three pitches.  Sciortino would be unsuccessful as well, flying out to short right and extending the hitless streak to 18.  Finally, Chris Balogh, pinch hitting for an 0-3 Logan Hoggarth, would break the streak, singling up the middle to get things started with 2 outs.  He would be promptly pinch run for by freshman Dominic Hardaway.  In a very Dave Roberts-esque way, everyone at Shea Field on Saturday knew Dom would be stealing.  After Johnny Adams got down two strikes, Hardaway would take off.  A usually sure-handed Matt Thaiss would fire a low bouncer down to second that would get by both the shortstop and the backing-up second baseman.  On the errant throw, Hardaway would get up and scamper to third, giving the Eagles a real chance to walk-off.  And then, one of the strangest things you’ll see happen on a baseball field happened.  Doyle delivered to Adams.  Adams swung and missed.  The thought was that the Eagles had squandered another opportunity and may watch another great pitching performance go to waste.  But, the pitch was in the dirt and sprayed to the side of a blocking Thaiss.  Adams took off for first.  Thaiss grabbed the ball and rushed a throw to first.  It would be his second poor throw, bounding in to Pavin Smith at first.  Smith couldn’t corral it, Johnny made it to first and Hardaway would run in to home, scoring and getting the Eagles walk-off win on a strikeout.  It was a truly unbelievable finish that ran the full emotional gamut in about 5 seconds.  Great to see Adams contribute despite struggling pretty mightily at the plate throughout the series.  The unusual suspect method of scoring would continue into the series finale on Sunday.

Day 3: Win 5-4

Sunday’s matinee looked to be a pretty good chance for the Eagles to get a second win over the Cavaliers.  Birdball ace, Mike King, had been saved until Sunday and was looking to have a more fruitful outing than his FSU start that tagged him with a loss after only giving up 2 runs.  He would be stellar again.  King seemed to be in trouble after loading the bases with 1 out in the opening frame, but a 6-4-3 double play would get him out unscathed.  He kept the Hoos quiet through the 4th, but ran into a bit of trouble again in the 5th, when the bottom three of the order would steal a run off of a lead-off double by Ryan Karstetter and a later sac fly from Justin Novak.  That would be the end of the scoring for the Cavs during King’s outing and until extras.  King finished with the following line:

King 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

He has proven time and again that he is an invaluable number 1 pitcher and his start in the last game of the series positioned the Eagles for the win over the 16th ranked Cavaliers.

BC would face off against Alex Bettinger.  Bettinger had a 5.09 ERA heading into his first start of the season.  It promised to be a matchup that would give the Eagles a chance to work into UVA’s bullpen for the first time in the series.  Bettinger kept the Eagles pretty quiet through the first 4, registering three 1-2-3 innings.  When he was given a lead to work with, though, he faltered, surrendering his only run in the bottom of the fifth.  Strem was able to start it off with a single through the short-third gap.  After moving over on an Adams sac bunt, he was driven in by a Hoggarth single up the middle.  Similarly to the Hoos, the Eagles offense would be done until extras from there.

The action really began in the 10th.  After John Niklas got the first out for the Eags, he gave up a single to Haseley and two batters later a walk to Thaiss.  That brought Pavin Smith up and Coach Gambino out to make a pitching change.  Kevin Connor would come in for a lefty-on-lefty bout with Smith.  It was a bout he would lose resoundingly, as Smith took him DEEP to right on his first pitch for a 3-run homer.  Connor was done after that pitch and Skogsbergh came in to finish the inning.  Down 4-1 in the 10th, it seemed like the Eagles luck had run out.

This is Boston College, though, and the luck of the Irish runs deep through our storied past.  Birdball refused to quit.  Cronin led off with a single off Tommy Doyle, the loser in the previous day’s game.  Scott Braren, pinch hitting for Casey and making just his third AB on the season, followed with another single; two on, no outs.  Sauter would be the first out, however, whiffing on a heater from Doyle for the K.  Doyle’s control would depart from there, though, as he hit Sciortino to load up the bases.  Smartly, Coach Gambino pinch ran Gabriel Hernandez for Sciortino, a move that paid off when with two outs, Strem hit a double to clear the bases and tie the game.  The Eagles had life and all the momentum.  They would not capitalize and bring Strem home, but they would get a chance to strike again in the 13th.

After watching pitching hold down the fort for three strong innings, the Eagles savior Michael Strem came up to start the 13th.  Unfortunately, he would not replicate his success, instead flying out to center.  Johnny Adams would come up and break his 0-15 slump with a rocket double into right-center; a perfect time to get off the snide.  It would be a big spot for freshman Dom Hardaway, and he would not disappoint, working a deep count and walking.  It was back to the top where Palomaki would strike out, putting the Hoos just one away from ending the game in a draw due to NCAA regulations.  In stepped Cronin, looking to continue his red-hot season and get the Eags the W.  He, too, would draw a walk, not getting the RBI but doing his part in getting Adams to third.  It would then be Scott Braren, now taking just his fourth at-bat on the season.  Braren, in heroic fashion, hit a line drive into right to bring Adams in and take the series win over Virginia.  For the second time in as many days, the Eagles rushed the field and mobbed a teammate.

This series is a huge one for the Eagles, who are a team on the precipice of being an ACC tournament team.  Great pitching and serviceable but clutch offense was the story for the Eagles, who now look to capitalize on this big momentum series.

 

Weekend Lowlights

The Eagles offense continues to be extremely stagnant at times.  Against the top-flight pitching of UVA, it doesn’t seem like as big of a deal, but the Eags really need their top of the lineup guys to produce more than they did this series.

Silver Linings: They still won two friggin’ games against UVA!

Donovan Casey is out for 4-6 weeks.  On what turned out to be a meaningless double amidst Sunday’s game, Casey slid hard and head first into second.  He would come up in severe pain but stay in the game.  Turns out he is a real trooper, playing through what ended up being a broken hand.  He will be sorely missed in this Eagles lineup.

Silver Lining: Scott Braren has been en fuego in his replacement role.  Look for him to get most of Casey’s innings.

 

Weekend Highlights

Nick Sciortino was an animal behind the plate.  He threw out the three misfortunate souls who dared to try to steal a base from him this weekend.  He certainly strengthened his case for the Johny Bench Award.
Eagles pitching is a force to be reckoned with.  They continue to give the Eagles a chance in every single game, which will be huge come the end of the season and potentially tournament time.

Clutch offense.  If you can’t get it done in the first 8, stay up for the 9th.  The Eagles proved that they can get it done in crunch time when they need to and quelled some of the worries about offensive impotence.

Johnny Adams.  Adams has really struggled offensively as of late.  He had just one hit in the series, but it was perhaps the most important of all.  For someone flirting with the Mendoza line, he managed to still play a huge role in both the Eagles walk-offs.  And most importantly, he hasn’t let it affect his defense one bit and continues to be one of the best gloves in the conference.  After the double on Sunday, he followed up with a great performance against Harvard Tuesday, hitting another double.  He wears the number 8 because his teammates believe he’s a leader, and he has continued to be one through his offensive slump.

 

Eagles have taken a game 11-9 over Harvard since this series.  They now sit at 17-11 with a game against UMass Amherst today.  Look out for those results later this week.