Over the past week, No. 22 Boston College baseball has proved it can win in a multitude of ways—run-rule victories, one-run wins, and, after Tuesday, late-game comebacks.
After falling behind in the seventh inning, BC (21–9, 8–4 Atlantic Coast) responded with four unanswered runs to secure a 7–4 win over Maine (5–21, 3–3 America East). The victory is BC’s 10th in its last 11 games.
“In order to win a lot of games, you’ve got to win in a lot of different ways,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “And today, you know, being able to come back down late in the mid-week after the weekend we just had, I think, speaks to our toughness, and I think it speaks to our confidence.”
Sean Hard earned the win for BC. After coming in the top of the seventh with two runners on and no outs, he was able to limit the damage to just two runs before pitching two perfect innings to give his offense the chance it needed.
“I’m honestly just excited to pitch whenever I can,” Hard said. “That’s one of the goals. One thing I’ve learned over the years is not taking it for granted when you get out there. So, you know, whether it’s late game, middle game, anytime, I’m just really, really excited to be out there and help contribute to a big win.”
The Black Bears used some of BC’s patented small-ball to take an early lead. Maine led off the game with two singles and an error to open the scoring, before a pair of sacrifice flies got the second runner home and made it 2–0.
BC got a run back in the bottom of the first when Nick Wang doubled home Julio Solier, but the Eagles went into the second inning having to play from behind.
Neither team would do much on offense for the next three innings. A third-inning single from Maine’s Juju Stevens was the only hit from either side during that stretch.
After a rough first inning, BC starter Jacob Burnham settled in for the Eagles. Over his last 3.1 innings, he allowed no runs with two hits and two walks.
“We go single, misplay, single to start the game, and then he gets three straight outs,” Interdonato said of Burnham. “And that was the big thing.”
Maine got another offensive threat going in the top of the fifth, thanks to a single and a walk, putting runners on first and second with one out. But Chase Hartsell was able to come out of the bullpen and shut things down, striking out Troy Carpenter on a called strike three to keep things 2–1.
BC struck back in its half of the fifth. After a pair of walks to lead off the inning, a Colin Larson sac bunt put two runners in scoring position for Solier. Solier did what he needed to do, grounding out to short to score Danny Surowiec.
That wasn’t all from the Eagles. Ty Mainolfi roped a single to right field to bring Jace Roossien home and give BC its first lead of the game.
Maine continued its theme of small ball to take the lead back in the seventh. After a walk and a bunt single put runners on first and third with no outs, the Black Bears scored via a sac fly to make it 3–3. With a runner on third, Stevens came through with his second hit of the game to put Maine up 4–3.
The lead didn’t last long. Larson got on with one out thanks to a hit by pitch, and Solier put runners on second and third thanks to a single that he was able to turn into two bases. Mainolfi then hit a hard chopper to first to secure his second RBI on the day and tie things at 4–4.
BC went ahead for good in the bottom of the eighth. Jack Toomey led off with a single and got to second two batters later following a walk. Surowiec followed that up with a single to right, giving BC a 5–4 lead.
But the Eagles weren’t content with a one-run lead. Gunnar Johnson laid down a bunt single to double the advantage, and Solier made it 7–4 with his second knock of the game.
With the lead in hand, Hard was able to get a three-up, three-down ninth inning to close out the game and give BC a 7–4 win.
“We can do a lot of things right,” Interdonato said. “We can swing, we can bunt, we can run, we can do some different things. And I think guys are really starting to understand and feel the flow of what our offense needs to be.”
