Entering its contest against No. 17 North Carolina on Friday, Boston College baseball was coming off two straight wins and was sporting a pristine 3–0 record at home.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, though, both of those streaks came to a rather abrupt stop as the Tar Heels (17–5, 3–4 Atlantic Coast) defeated BC (9–10, 2–5) 5–1, handing BC its first loss at home for the season and dipping the Eagles below .500.
Strong winds seemed to be a factor affecting pitcher A.J. Colarusso’s command early on, as he walked the first batter he faced.
But he recovered. And with the help of a strikeout, and catcher Gunnar Johnson throwing a runner out as he tried to steal second, Colarusso managed to put up a scoreless first inning after facing just three batters.
Colarusso ran into some traffic in the second inning, but once again came out unscathed as he pitched a strikeout to end the threat, stranding UNC’s Hunter Stokely at third base. He sat the next three batters down in order in the top of the third to keep the score knotted at 0–0.
“I thought that was probably the best start we’ve gotten all year,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “Going deep on a Friday night in this league against a lineup like that.”
Meanwhile, Tar Heels’ starter Jake Knapp seated the first seven Eagles he faced down in order, striking out three.
Colarusso once again silenced UNC in the top of the fourth, and stayed in the game until well into the top of the seventh. Before Friday, the most innings Colarusso had pitched in a single game was three.
While BC kept UNC silent thanks to Colarusso’s pitching, the Tar Heels shut down the Eagles offense, too.
When Colarusso took the mound again in the top of the fifth, he immediately hit second baseman Jackson Van De Brake with a pitch. But BC’s defense had his back, turning a 4-6-3 double-play.
After battling through a tough at-bat, though, Sam Angelo finally broke the scoreless tie, blasting a solo home run to dead-center to send UNC into the sixth up 1–0. Adam Magpoc managed to get the Eagles’ first hit of the day in the bottom of the fifth, but he was ultimately gunned trying to steal second.
Bass opened the top of the seventh with a jam-shot single off of Colarusso’s pitch. Then, Alex Madera popped up a sacrifice bunt that allowed Bass to steal second. Shortly after, Van De Brake smoked a double to right field, driving in Bass to extend UNC’s lead.
The hit parade continued as Black laced an RBI single into center.
“Honestly, even the two runs he gave up in the seventh were soft contact, so yeah it was a great start for him,” Interdonato said of Colarusso’s performance.
But that’s when Interdonato made the call to the bullpen, pulling Colarusso. J.D Ogden took his spot and shut down UNC for the rest of the inning.
Kyle Wolff hit a long single down the left field line to lead off the bottom of the seventh, and shortly after Jack Toomey was hit by a pitch. Cimini then squared to bunt, advancing both runners on the sacrifice. Interndonato then went to the bench, pinch-hitting Nick Wang for Garcia with one out, and runners on second and third.
Wang, originally listed as questionable, saw two very close pitches to get him into a 2–0 count. He cut and missed at a breaking ball in the zone before getting the same pitch and smashing it to left. Wang just missed a game-tying, three-run home run, but the Eagles still walked away with a run on the sacrifice fly, bringing the ballgame to 3–1.
“This was the first week he had a full week of practice, so we were comfortable putting him in the game,” Interndonato replied when asked about the decision to pinch-hit Wang, “We thought that was the best place to do it […] he did a good job driving in the run to bring it to three-one and get us moving. It was a great plate appearance.”
Then, Hunter Stokely smashed a two-run homer to deep right field in the top of the eighth, extending UNC’s lead to 5-1. That led Interdonato to make another call to the bullpen, bringing in left-hander John Kwiatkowski, who held the score where it was.
The Eagles saw some life in the bottom of the eighth with two walks, but were ultimately kept scoreless. Then, Toomey started off the ninth with a single and Cimini worked a competitive at-bat, but ultimately struck out looking. Owen DeShazo went to bat pinch-hitting, trying to extend BC’s rally, but grounded out.
Magpoc, the Eagles’ last hope, worked another long at-bat, but struck out looking, ending the game.
“It just starts with playing well you know, like how we played today,” Interdonato said, “I really like the mindset we came into today with, we’re gonna build off that tomorrow.”
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