When Michael Farinelli took the mound for Boston College baseball in its matchup against UT Arlington, the start to his appearance was anything but strong. Two batters into the game, he had surrendered a single and then an RBI double, and then had to face the heart of the order with a runner on second base.
Farinelli was able to mitigate UT Arlington’s early activity and escape the inning with only one additional runner crossing the plate on a sacrifice fly to center field. After the sacrifice fly out, Farinelli retired the next eight batters he faced. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the Eagles would give up another run.
Farinelli’s gutsy rebound was enough to allow the Eagles (4–2) to get back into the game and ultimately defeat the Mavericks (3–5) 17–8.
The Eagles answered the Mavericks’ early runs thanks to a 2-RBI single by Nick Wang in the third inning that came in a full count and knotted the score at two runs.
“Nick is talented,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “Everybody at this level is talented, but his mindset and his approach is what sets him apart.”
Headed into the fourth inning tied 2–2, the Eagles were able to seize an opportunity off of Maverick errors. Sam McNulty hit a hard ground ball that ran under the glove of Jordan Medellin. Medellin was charged with an error on the play, and Vince Cimini scored.
The Eagles went on to score three runs in the inning, and the game headed into the fifth with BC up 5–2. Farinelli returned for the fifth, but could not continue the dominance of the three prior innings, and JD Moreno scored on a double play, cutting the Eagles’ lead to two.
A run from Cimini in the top of the sixth reclaimed the Eagles’ three-run lead, but the bottom half of the inning was not as kind to BC.
Evan Moore came into the game to relieve Farinelli, and allowed two walks, then a single to right field. Moore’s command issues gave the Mavericks a chance to ambush a new pitcher—Beck Milner. Milner gave up three straight doubles, giving UTA an 8–6 lead headed into the seventh.
“We just, you know, kept falling behind and not being able to land and all speed pitch and, you know, they were able to eliminate pitches and sit fast balls and you know, we just got to be able to land in all speed pitch out of the bullpen more consistently,” Interdonato said. “This is a bitch of an inning. This sucks. This is a gut punch. But we come back on offense, like we just have to have good at bats.”
The Eagles’ offensive approach was nearly perfect in the eighth inning, and they picked up nine runs to turn a one-run deficit into a 16–8 lead.
“I said to the four guys or five guys on the mound, like, hey, this can’t sway how good we’ve been offensively,” Interdonato said.
In the top of the eighth inning, the game reached a tipping point when the Eagles had runners at third and second with one out. Adam Magpoc was battling with a 2–2 count and was in danger of striking out.
Magpoc kicked his leg, started a swing, but held up, the ball jetting to the backstop. Caraher came sprinting home to score the tying run. Airhart then made a throw which hit the feet of the scoring Caraher. The ball ricocheted off of Caraher’s feet and allowed the go-ahead run to score.
“You know, this isn’t football or basketball where you can run plays for certain guys,” Interdonato said. “And you know, we asked our guys in September to commit to the bunt and being able to execute it when called on.”
The Mavericks made their fourth and final error in the ninth inning, allowing Cimini to pick up another run and put the cap on the Eagles’ 17–8 win.
The Eagles faced UT Arlington on Saturday too, taking home a 3–0 win. Boston College shut out UTA behind a combined effort from A.J. Colarusso and Tyler Mudd. The pair walked only two batters and struck out nine.
