Struggles on the mound have been an ongoing challenge for Boston College baseball this season, but the Eagles’ Tuesday night matchup against Bryant told a different story.
Seven BC pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts on Tuesday, as the Eagles (18–28, 4–20 Atlantic Coast) rolled to a 5–1 victory over Bryant (21–10, 11–7 Northeast). The strikeout total marks BC’s pitching staff’s second-highest single-game strikeout total of the season. The highest total—16—came in the Eagles’ 20–8 loss to Wake Forest on April 2.
On Tuesday, all but one of BC’s pitchers struck out at least one batter.
Max Gieg, who holds a team-best 1.29 ERA, started on the mound for BC and earned his fourth win of the season. He leads BC’s pitching staff in wins with a 4–1 record.
Gieg set the tone of the game, striking out the side in the first inning. In the second inning, he registered one more out before BC head coach Mike Gambino replaced him with John West after a line drive deflected off Gieg’s arm.
West went longer on the mound than any other BC relief pitcher, throwing 48 pitches over 2.2 innings. The Eagles often look to the depths of their bullpen in midweek matchups, and every other pitcher besides West threw for under two full innings.
On the offensive side, seven of the 11 Eagles that stepped up to the plate recorded at least one hit. Leadoff hitter Travis Honeyman, who has battled a foot injury for much of the season, was one of those seven, recording two hits to extend his hit streak to seven games.
BC opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning off a two-run single with two outs from Rafe Chaumette that scored Joe Vetrano and Honeyman.
Neither team scored again until the sixth inning, when Bryant got on the board. Alex Lane doubled to left field to bring in the Bulldogs’ only run of the game. Bryant found itself with two runners in scoring position later in the inning, but right-hander Evan Moore struck out Logan Allen to end the inning and leave both base runners stranded.
The Eagles responded in the bottom of the sixth, scoring one run off a double from Barry Walsh. BC secured its victory in the bottom of the seventh, scoring off singles from Cameron Leary and Daniel Baruch.
Brendan Coffey closed the game for BC, downing the first three batters he faced. John Tuccillo and Allen struck out before Jackson Phinney grounded out to third to close the contest.
