A triple from Jack Toomey boomed into the outfield, and Kyle Wolff took off from first base, eventually sprinting through home plate to score Boston College baseball’s first run of the season on its home field.
The Eagles (7–6, 2–1 Atlantic Coast) scored one more run before the inning was over, starting the game with a lead they never relinquished, as they ultimately beat Merrimack (3–12–1, 2–1 Northeast) 10–5 on Tuesday afternoon.
BC earned its win over Merrimack two days after going to Virginia and beating the then-No. 9 team in the country in last weekend’s series. It also did so in anticipation of the coming weekend, when it will head to undefeated Florida State for another challenging ACC series.
“Being able to go on the road and play well down in Charlottesville was really good, but, you know, you had to kinda cement it down, staple it in, whatever you want to say, with the win here,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said.
It wasn’t smooth sailing all the way through, though.
BC led 6–0 heading into the top of the sixth after a three-run fifth inning, but it was then that Merrimack started to cause major problems for BC.
Freshman Cesar Gonzalez came in to pitch and immediately hit the first batter he faced. Then, an error from BC allowed Merrimack to place runners on first and second. Gonzalez proceeded to give up a single to Frankie Ferrentino, then a two-RBI double to Logan Castellano for Merrimack’s first runs of the game.
It was at that point that Interdonato and his staff sent Dylan Howanitz into the game. His stint didn’t go much better than Gonzalez’s, though—it arguably went worse.
Matt DeShiro sent a Howanitz pitch booming into left field for a two-RBI triple. Then, a groundout from Christian Scanlon scored DeShiro from third base. Suddenly, a game that had been 6–0 at the beginning of the inning had turned into a one-run game.
When Howanitz gave up yet another single, hit Chris Goode with a pitch, then walked another batter, Interdonato had seen enough. Eric Schroeder went in to relieve Howanitz and was finally able to end a long top of the sixth inning with a groundout from Cavan Brady.
Schroeder gave up no hits through the seventh inning, either. But the Eagles’ offense was still having trouble finding its rhythm, as the Warriors held BC scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings—just long enough for BC to become worrisome of whether its 6–5 lead would be sufficient.
Schroeder thrived under the pressure as BC headed into the eighth inning, though, and his pitching in the top of the frame led to a 1-2-3 inning from Merrimack.
“Eric’s had a couple tough appearances recently, but we talked to him, told him we still believe in him, and we still put him in tight spots,” Interdonato said. “Him getting us out of the sixth and then throwing clean in the seventh, eighth, and ninth—it was great to see him do that.”
BC’s offense got going at exactly the right time. A two-out single from Jace Roossien in the bottom half of the inning prompted Interdonato to send in Patrick Roche to pinch hit, hoping to get an insurance run on the board.
Interdonato’s hopes for Roche’s at-bat turned into a reality, as Roche walked and Josiah Ragsdale stepped up to the plate.
Ragsdale, who was posting a .326 batting average heading into Tuesday’s game, smacked a single into left center. Roche advanced to third, and Roossien flew through home plate to put BC up 7–5.
Then, Wolff made the play of the game. His three-RBI homer flew over the outfield wall, putting BC up 10–5 and earning the Eagles a win. Wolff ended the game with 5 RBIs.
“The hit he had to start kind of broke the game open in the middle of the game, and then the hit that he had in the ninth obviously put the game away,” Interdonato said. “So not only five RBIs, but five RBIs in really important spots.”
