In Boston College baseball’s last series against No. 14 Wake Forest in 2023, the then—No. 17 Eagles went 1–2 to the then—No. 2 Demon Deacons.
BC’s Friday afternoon game against Wake Forest did not tell a similar story.
In fact, it was a much worse one for the Eagles.
The Eagles (18–15, 6–10 Atlantic Coast) surrendered a 13–1 crushing loss to the Demon Deacons (23–10, 8–8) at home.
“Through seven, they were kind of beating us straight up,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “And then obviously, the eighth was its own animal.”
Coming off of the loss, Interdonato has growing concerns over his team’s offense.
“But honestly, I feel like our offense has been out of rhythm for maybe since Sunday of last weekend. So that’s like one of my main concerns right now is getting it back on because it is a dangerous offense, it just hasn’t felt like that for four games in a row.”
On the mound in the top of the first inning, the Eagles’ Michael Farinelli held Wake Forest scoreless.
Wake Forest followed suit in the bottom of the first inning—thanks to pitcher Chase Burns. The No. 4 projected player in the 2024 MLB draft clocked in at 99 miles per hour on the mound.
“I felt like we had some good swings on him,” Interdonato said of Burns. “I thought Roche had really good bats on him all day. Sam hit a ball hard, Magpoc hit a ball hard up the middle, and you know we crunched some fast balls that did not go for hits.”
It wasn’t until the top of the second inning where the Demon Deacons put their first run on the board—and never looked back.
After Seaver King tripled to right field, Javar Williams singled to right field, scoring King to make it 1–0.
But the Demon Deacons were only getting started.
In the top of the third inning, following Wake Forest Adam Tellier’s single to right field, Nick Kurtz launched a double to left center, scoring Tellier and bringing Wake Forest to a 2–0 lead over the Eagles.
The Demon Deacons’ next batter Jake Winnay singled and advanced Kurtz to home plate to tally Wake Forest’s third run of the matchup.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth inning when Patrick Roche and the Eagles responded. Grounding the ball to first base, Roche advanced Parker Landwehr to third base and scored Connor Dreyer—marking BC’s first and only run of the afternoon.
Wake Forest’s three-run lead did not last for long, though. After the top of the sixth, the Demon Deacons’ doubled their lead to make it 7–1.
Missed opportunities defined the bottom of the sixth inning for the Eagles as they went three and out on the inning after having Wolff, Cimini, and Magpoc at bat.
“Hitting the ball in the air today is a death sentence,” Interdonato said. “I thought this was a tough park to hit today.”
In the top of the seventh, Kurtz slammed a rocket out of the ballpark to make it 9–1.
“You know, they hit some really hard line drives, which is why they put some runs up” Interdonato said.
Despite Wake Forest substituting Crawford Wade for Burns in the bottom of the seventh, it made no difference for BC’s batting success.
The Eagles’ troubles continued in the top of the eighth inning as the Demon Deacons scored four runs—ending the game before BC was able to have their turn at bat again.
Following the matchup, Interdonato discussed BC’s hitting troubles in further detail.
“I think anytime a hitter struggles, nine times out of 10, they are between pitches, behind on fast balls, and out front on breaking balls,” Interdonato said. “And I think we have a collection of guys that are in that spot right now. We don’t have one or two guys that are in between pitches. We have a collection, a handful of guys in between pitches.”
According to Interdonato, there are three BC players that stood out during the matchup.
“I think the three guys today that were making the best decisions were, I thought Roche was dialed in the whole day, I thought Sam McNulty made really good decisions at the plate, and I actually thought Magpoc had really good decisions at the plate as well,” Interdonato said. “The rest of those guys were kind of in between.”
