After Saturday’s 17–0 blowout of Virginia, many Boston College baseball fans came to Harrington Athletics Village expecting another strong offensive showing from the Eagles.
Instead, they were treated to an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel, as BC (20–9, 8–4 Atlantic Coast) and the No. 9 Cavaliers combined for just five hits and four runs. In the end, Virginia (22–7, 7–5) did enough to take the final game of the weekend series 3–1.
BC starter Brady Miller was the star of the day, dealing seven scoreless innings while setting a career high in pitches thrown (94), strikeouts (nine), and allowing just two hits and one walk.
“He’s just such a confident kid,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “I don’t think anybody takes their career more seriously than Brady. I mean, that kid is in the building all hours of the day and night. It’s all he thinks about. It’s all he does.”
Miller settled in early, striking out five batters and allowing just one runner on base over the first two innings. Virginia’s John Paone matched Miller in the first, striking out the side, but walked two Eagles to leadoff the second to give them runners on first and second with no outs.
After Luke Gallo’s bunt single loaded the bases, Cesar Gonzalez lifted a sacrifice fly to center field that scored the runner on third. That’s all BC would get, though, as Carter Hendrickson was caught stealing third to end the inning with BC up 1–0.
“Just only being able to get one right there was tough,” Interdonato said. “You feel like you have a chance to really take control of the game. And as crazy as it sounds, like they gave up one run right there and you feel like that’s almost their momentum.”
The pitchers’ duel continued through the fourth. Both pitchers posted a pair of scoreless innings over the third and fourth while surrendering just one baserunner apiece.
Miller’s dominance was on full display in the top of the fifth, when he worked a scoreless inning while throwing just four pitches.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, Virginia’s pitching was in a groove of its own. Paone was pulled after 4.2 innings of one-run ball, and Lucas Hartman came in and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in relief to keep the score 1–0 heading into the eighth.
Miller struck out the side in the top of the seventh to cap off his day and continue his career year. After posting a 4.27 ERA over 59 innings last year, Miller is down to a 0.82 ERA on the year and is averaging over a strikeout an inning.
BC’s pitching staff finally broke in the top of the eighth when Gavin Soares came on in relief of Miller. Soares walked the first three batters he faced to load the bases with no outs before being replaced by John Kwiatkowski.
Kwiatkowski couldn’t stop the bleeding, walking the first batter he faced on four pitches to tie the game. AJ Gracia followed that walk up with a sac fly to deep center that scored the runner from third to give the Cavaliers a 2–1 lead.
A miscommunication from Wang, Ty Mainolfi, and Jack Toomey led to a pop fly dropping in for an RBI single to put the Cavaliers up 3–1. That was all they would get, though, as BC turned a double play on the next batter to get out of the inning.
But those runs would be enough. The Eagles went down in order in both the eighth and ninth innings as the Cavaliers took the series finale. The loss ends the Eagles’ nine-game winning streak and marks their first home loss of the season.
“You could feel really bad about losing today, which I know we’re all, you know, we’re all upset about it,” he said. “But at the same time, I think once they get away from it and the disappointment, the immediate disappointment of this loss kind of disperses, I think they’re going to realize what position that we put ourselves in.”
