Sacred Heart put out seven pitchers in its game against Boston College baseball on Tuesday afternoon.
Not a single one of them worked out for the Pioneers—at least, not well enough to overcome BC’s hitting, as the Eagles (8–9, 2–4 Atlantic Coast) beat Sacred Heart (9–9, 4–2 Metro Atlantic) 8–3 in the first of five home games for the Eagles this week.
Eric Schroeder started on the mound for BC, delivering a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first. And he did it again in the second inning, and the Eagles delivered their first runs of the game in the bottom half of the second to go up 2–0.
Bryan Matuschat didn’t do a bad job in his pitching stint in the first inning, necessarily. He hit one batter with a pitch, but he kept the Eagles to a quick three outs and scoreless heading into the second. But Sacred Heart’s staff decided that Matuschat’s first-inning performance was inadequate, and took him out for Jonathan Peteron in the bottom of the second.
Peterson’s performance went worse than Matuschat’s had.
He walked Vince Cimini to start things off, then Cimini advanced to second on a wild pitch from Peterson. It only got worse from there for Peterson, as he proceeded to walk Adam Magpoc and Esteban Garcia. Zero hits later, bases were loaded for BC.
Sacred Heart once again decided on a pitching change, sending in Charlie Costello to try to get the Pioneers out of the mess they found themselves in.
But Beck Milner reached first on a fielder’s choice, then advanced to second on a throwing error, and both Magpoc and Cimini ran through home plate to give the Eagles a 2–0 lead. BC left three runners on base to end the second, as a pop up from Patrick Roche and fly out from Jack Toomey ended the inning and kept the game within reach for Sacred Heart.
Schroeder pitched another relatively strong inning in the third, giving up no hits. But he walked two batters, and Gavin Soares relieved him to start the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the third, BC scored another run thanks to a Kyle Wolff leadoff triple, followed by an RBI from Cimini.
Sam McNulty hit a single, advanced to second on a balk, stole third, then capitalized on a sacrifice fly out from Josiah Ragsdale to score the Eagles’ fourth run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning.
After giving up one single in the top of the fourth, Soares delivered a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fifth, then the Eagles tacked on another run in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a single from Toomey and RBI single from Wolff.
The Pioneers tried to climb back into the game in the top of the sixth with BC up 5–0. Peter Schaefer entered the game for Soares, and walked the first batter he faced. That walked batter, Alex Unger, turned out to be the runner streaking through home plate later in the inning, when an RBI single from Ron Donohue cut the Eagles’ lead to four runs.
Schaefer walked another batter before the inning was over, but Joe Cilea struck out swinging to end the frame.
BC was kept silent in both the bottom of the sixth and the bottom of the seventh, while Sacred Heart managed to put two more runs on the board in the top of the seventh frame thanks to a single, a double, a sacrifice fly out from Dan D’Amore, then another single.
Regardless of the Pioneers gathering three hits in the top of the seventh, Schaefer stayed on the mound for the Eagles.
BC’s momentum finally returned in the eighth inning, though, allowing them to win the game. Joey Ryan came in to pitch in the top half of the frame and shut Sacred Heart down, giving up one single before delivering three consecutive outs, silencing the Pioneers’ offense.
Then, in the bottom of the frame, BC added on three insurance runs thanks to RBI singles from Sam Mcnulty, Ragsdale, and Roche, stretching BC’s lead to 8–3.
Ryan pitched another run-less inning in the top half of the ninth, and BC walked away with a win in the first game of its midweek back-to-back before shifting its focus to Northeastern’s visit to Harrington Athletics Village on Wednesday.
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