The umpire threw both his hands out to signal safe, and Carter Hendrickson turned with a smile as his Boston College baseball teammates poured out of the dugout into right field to celebrate what seemed to be a walk-off win.
Two innings later, though, No. 23 BC (24–12, 9–7 Atlantic Coast) would be walking off the field—but with a loss under its belt. The Eagles’ winning run was ultimately overturned, and after two frames of extra innings, it was Virginia Tech (16–16, 7–9) that took home a 9–8 win to kick off the weekend series.
It was a slow start for BC’s offense, but the Eagles’ bats woke up in the ninth and scored two runs to extend the game.
“I thought we were having good at-bats, but I just didn’t think we were linking them together,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “In the ninth, it was like four good plate appearances in a row. So I thought that was the difference.”
Ethan Ball helped the Hokies to a loud start. After a leadoff strikeout, Ball stepped up and launched a ball over the center field fence to give Virginia Tech a 1–0 lead. The Hokies looked to extend their lead in the second, as a pair of singles put runners on first and second with no out, but A.J. Colarusso pitched three straight outs to escape the jam.
After a quiet first inning, BC’s offense got going in the bottom of the second.
Hendrickson walked and stole second to get into scoring position, and Gunnar Johnson doubled down the left field line to score Hendrickson and tie the game 1–1. Danny Surowiec singled to put two runners on, but Johnson got caught trying to reach home on a fielder’s choice, and a groundout from Julio Solier ended the inning.
BC started the third with a walk and two singles, setting up Jack Toomey to drive Ty Mainolfi in with an RBI single of his own, giving his team its first lead of the day.
That lead wouldn’t last long, though. In the top of the fourth, Virginia Tech hit a double and single to put two runners on, and a fielder’s choice following a Sam Gates groundout evened the score. The next at-bat, Owen Petrich put a jolt into one, hitting a two-run homer to left field that put the Hokies back on top 4–2. Hudson Lutterman kept things rolling for the Hokies in the fifth, hitting a line drive solo shot to left to extend their lead to 5–2.
After three straight six-inning outings during which he allowed just two total earned runs, Colarusso pitched just five innings on Friday. He gave up five runs, eight hits, and a walk while striking out four.
“I thought they just hit his offspeed stuff that was up,” Interdonato said of Colarusso’s performance.
After the third, BC’s offense hit a cold stretch, going 1-2-3 in both the fourth and fifth innings. That ended in the sixth thanks to Hendrickson. Up to bat with Toomey on first, he cleared the left-field fence for his first homer of the season to cut the Hokies’ lead to 5–4.
Virginia Tech responded in the top of the seventh as Cesar Gonzalez allowed a double and two singles, and the Hokies pushed their lead to 6–4.
The Eagles’ bullpen gave BC’s offense a chance to strike back, though. Over the final four innings of regulation, the run in the seventh was the only run BC allowed. Chase Hartsell put up a scoreless sixth, then Gonzalez came in to finish the next four innings.
“I thought Cesar did a good job getting off the field,” Interdonato said. “Even when he gave up the run in the 10th, we kept the next run off and he just kind of kept us in it, right?”
After a scoreless eighth, Eagles went to the ninth needing at least two runs to stay alive. They got them.
Larson drew a walk, and a double from Solier put runners on second and third with Mainolfi coming up to bat. Mainolfi came through, chopping a two-RBI double to score both runners and tie the game 6–6.
An intentional walk for Wang and a flyout from Toomey brought Hendrickson up with two outs and a pair of runners in scoring position. Hendrickson swung at the first pitch, hitting another chopper to third, and a wide throw to first appeared to bring the first baseman’s foot off the bag, allowing Mainolfi to score and win the game for BC.
But BC’s celebration was short-lived. Hendrickson was called out after a review, sending the game to extras.
“I think that’s really hard,” Interdonato said. “You know, the guys go out and celebrate, and you know, it’s just a difficult situation to try and contain your emotions.”
After a walk and a single, Gates dropped a single into right field, and Virginia Tech took a 7–6 lead into the bottom of the 10th. BC wouldn’t need a hit to get that run back, though, as Johnson drew a one-out walk and Ben Williams stole second after coming in as a pinch runner. After advancing to third on a groundout, Williams took home on a wild pitch, knotting the score at 7–7 heading into the 11th.
Virginia Tech kept the back-and-forth affair going, as a Lutterman triple scored Sam Grube from first to make it 8–7. Two batters later, Pete Daniel singled through the right side of the infield to make it 9–7.
At that point, BC had run out of magic. Toomey doubled and later got to third on a wild pitch, but a Luke Gallo groundout brought BC’s 9–8 defeat to a close.
