Coming off a series win against No. 24 Miami to open ACC play last weekend, Boston College baseball flew high once again, taking a 26–19 win at UConn on Tuesday afternoon.
Nick Wang came into the first inning hot, setting BC (10–6, 2–1 Atlantic Coast) up for its highest-scoring game of the season. The grad student boomed a two-RBI homer to center field, putting the Eagles up 2–0. His home run set the tone, and Esteban Garcia’s sacrifice fly allowed Jack Toomey to score from third as BC took a quick 3–0 lead over the Huskies (7–9).
Drew Grumbles had a successful first couple of innings on the mound for BC, giving up no hits in the first two frames.
The Eagles kept up the offensive pressure in the second inning, as Danny Surowiec hit a leadoff double, then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Easton Masse. UConn pitcher Tristan Aasland walked Colin Larson, and then relief pitcher Garret Garbinski walked Julio Solier to load the bases for BC.
The Eagles capitalized on the momentum, scoring five runs before the inning was over. Ty Mainolfi hit a two-RBI single, Wang scored Solier with a sacrifice fly, and both Esteban Garcia and Luke Gallo recorded RBI singles before the frame was over, extending BC’s lead to 8–0.
While BC added two more runs in the top of the third with a two-run homer from Larson, the Huskies finally managed a response in the bottom half of the inning.
Tyler Minick hit an RBI single through the right side, then Chris Polemeni and Jackson Marshall both chipped in RBI doubles. Jacob Burnham relieved Grumbles, though, and was able to avoid any more damage and preserve a 10–3 Eagles lead heading into the fourth inning.
BC continued to tack on runs in the middle innings. The fourth inning was particularly mistake-ridden for the Huskies, resulting in four BC runs. Wang was hit by a pitch, four batters walked, and UConn committed two fielding errors to go along with a wild pitch.
UConn scored on a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to cut BC’s lead to 14–4, but Surowiec stretched the advantage back to 11 with an RBI single that scored Toomey, who reached first on an error earlier in the frame.
After a three-hit, five-run sixth inning, BC had a comfortable 19–4 lead. But UConn mounted a late rally beginning in the bottom of the frame.
The Huskies put up five runs in the sixth, then another eight in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by a three-run double from Bryce Detwiler that had the Huskies trailing 23–17 going into the eighth.
Despite the UConn comeback, BC rounded out the game still far ahead of the Huskies at 26–19. Wang hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth, and Sean Hard pitched two strikeouts in the bottom of the frame to give BC its fifth win in six games.
