After striking early with one run in the first inning, Boston College baseball bats failed to produce any more runs to support its starter Emmet Sheehan, who took yet another loss in yet another durable outing. The Eagles seem to be stuck in a pattern: when the pitchers are firing, the bats go quiet, and when BC’s offense lights up, its defense falls apart.
The Eagles (14-18, 4-16 Atlantic Coast) fell to No. 18 Florida State 5-1 on the road to go down 2-0 in the series with their fifth straight loss.
Despite midseason struggles, BC’s offense has typically done an efficient job of scoring early in the game, but the Eagles have lacked the same energy in later innings. Saturday’s game maintained that narrative.
BC’s offensive production was immediate. Sal Frelick led off the top of the first by ripping a single up the middle, and Brian Dempsey followed with a double down the right-field line. Florida State starter Bryce Hubbart then walked Vince Cimini to load the bases with no outs.
Despite his shaky start to the first inning, Hubbart regained his focus to strike out the next three Eagles and escape the jam only having given up one unearned run after Frelick scored on a passed ball.
Sheehan eased into a commanding start, going three-up, three-down in his first three innings pitched. In that span, he struck out five of the nine batters he retired. In the fourth inning, however, he ran into some trouble.
Sheehan had still not given up a hit through three innings, but he gave up two walks to begin the fourth inning. Those two walks proved very costly for the Eagles. Sheehan surrendered his first hit of the game later in the inning. Matheu Nelson homered to left field to capitalize on the walks and give the Seminoles a 3-1 advantage.
Florida State dealt more damage against Sheehan in the fifth inning. After giving up a pair of hits to open the inning, he allowed a sacrifice fly from Tyler Martin to score Garrett Mathes, which expanded the Eagles’ deficit to 4-1.
After the first inning of the game, BC hitters only tallied three hits scattered across the other eight innings and failed to show any sign of a comeback. The Eagles had their best chance of mustering one in the sixth inning, when Hubbart was pulled after hitting Jack Cunningham with a pitch and making a throwing error in the field that allowed runners to reach second and third.
Hubbart gave up one run on four hits over 5.2 innings pitched while punching out eight batters and walking three. With runners on second and third with two outs, Chase Haney entered the game in relief for the Seminoles and got Chris Galland to strike out swinging to end the inning.
Sheehan hit two batters in a row in the sixth inning before exiting the inning unscathed. He pitched six innings in which he gave up four runs on four hits, two walks, and nine strikeouts. Charlie Coon relieved him and gave up one run in the seventh as well, which put the score at 5-1 that would hold the rest of the game.
Featured Image by Jess Rivilis / Heights Senior Staff
