The beauty of baseball lies in the back-and-forth battle between pitcher and hitter. When a pitcher is throwing strikes, the batter has no option but to parry with a swing. The same can’t be said when a pitcher is missing the zone.
Tyler Mudd failed to engage North Carolina’s nine-hole batter, throwing four straight balls in the top of the third inning of Boston College baseball’s game on Saturday afternoon.
Mudd hit the next batter on his first pitch and then issued another four-pitch walk. In nine pitches, he drew zero swings, and the bases were loaded for UNC in the third inning.
Gavin Gallaher skied a sacrifice fly to give UNC (17–6, 3–5 Atlantic Coast) the first lead of the game. BC (10–10, 3–5) out-hit UNC 3–1 before the bottom half of the third, but Mudd’s poor command made UNC look like the hotter offense.
“It was just interesting to watch a kid with so much experience, so much success, struggling to adjust,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “We made the mound visit and just said, ‘Look, we got to make an adjustment, we trust you to get through it.’ And he did. And then he got two consecutive outs after that.”
Command remained an issue, though. Mudd walked two batters in the top of the fifth and departed the game, leaving tough work for Kyle Kipp. Gallaher, who had delivered earlier with runners in scoring position, grounded into an inning-ending double play, and the Eagles escaped the inning unscathed.
Hits from Sam McNulty and Josiah Ragsdale brought up Patrick Roche in the bottom of the inning.
Roche delivered a three-RBI home run, recording BC’s first hit with runners in scoring position and putting the Eagles up 3–1 headed into the sixth inning.
“It felt like all the momentum was shifting their way, and then we turned the double play, and then we got it back,” Interdonato said. “Two-strike hit from Sam, 0–0 hit from Jo [Ragsdale], and then a hanging breaking ball that Roche hit onto the hill.”
BC didn’t record another hit with runners on base, yet alone in scoring position. Despite having the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth inning, BC struggled to find holes in the defense.
Vince Cimini and Adam Magpoc both hit ground balls to shortstop in their at-bats. UNC’s Alex Madera dove and had to leap up from the turf on Magpoc’s smash, but managed a perfectly timed throw to home.
“The thing that I give our guys credit for is we got the ball in play, right?” Interdonato said. “Vince got the ball in play. Adam—the play their shortstop made was a Major League–level play that he made on the diving backhand, throwing home.”
Esteban Garcia struck out to end the inning as the Eagles headed into the final frame looking to preserve their lead and earn a win over a ranked team following Friday’s loss.
“I thought Adam’s at-bat was really good, and to me, you have to give their defense credit for not giving up a run in that situation,” Interdonato said. “Playing the infield in [is] high risk, high reward, and their shortstop made two good plays.”
All Joey Ryan could do was pick up his teammates. On the mound, Ryan let a run score in the eighth. But his whiff-inducing stuff proved invaluable, and it became a game of matchups as his outing progressed.
“Him buckling down and getting the third out in the eighth—and then going 1-2-3 in the ninth—was so important because they have their best hitters sitting 2-3-4,” Interdonato said. “Getting their leadoff hitter out and leaving their two-hole hitter on deck was so important.”
Ryan struck out five batters in his three-inning save, and BC escaped Saturday with a win to tie the series 1–1. The Eagles are heading into Sunday’s tiebreaker with a chance to get their second series win over a ranked conference opponent this season.
