For the Boston College baseball community, Saturday’s matchup was more than just a game.
Students and alumni filled the seats at Fenway Park for the 14th Annual ALS Awareness Game between No. 23 BC and Virginia Tech in a game honoring the life and legacy of former BC captain Pete Frates, who died of ALS and was a champion for ALS research.
After going down 4–0, the Eagles honored the Frates’ legacy in the best way they possibly could—by fighting until the very end for an 8–7 come-from-behind win, evening the weekend series 1–1.
“It was amazing seeing the brotherhood that is built around Pete Frates and the Pete Frates Foundation,” Gunnar Johnson said. “So today, especially, I just wanted to go out, play for something bigger than me.”
Henry Cooke kicked things off for Virginia Tech, sending a triple into right field. Hudson Lutterman followed up with an RBI single to put the Hokies up 1–0. The Eagles failed to respond in the first, as Brett Renfrow retired the first three batters he faced.
Things didn’t get better for BC in the second, as Ethan Gibson singled and Luke Gallo committed a throwing error to start the frame. After a sacrifice fly that got Gibson to third, Owen Petrich hit an RBI double off the Green Monster to bring Gibson home. Then, Ethan Ball slammed a 389-foot homer that raised the Hokies’ lead to 4–0 and left BC in the dust.
“Some things don’t go our way—like early on—but we’re still having good at-bats and pitching amazing,” Jack Toomey said. “So it doesn’t feel like we’re ever behind. Even if we’re down by four runs, it feels like we’re right there in it.”
BC’s offense managed back-to-back singles but was stifled again in the second, while Virginia Tech’s offense continued to roll in the third. A walk and a single put two runners on base with one out, but starting pitcher Brady Miller kept the Hokies off the scoreboard and pitched a strikeout and flyout to escape the inning.
Miller was the story of the fourth inning, too. And the fifth. And the sixth. The sophomore Massachusetts native put up a one-two-three inning in each frame to keep BC’s deficit to three. And in the fourth, the Eagles got some momentum going on the other side of the ball.
Toomey and Carter Hendrickson hit back-to-back doubles, then Gallo was hit by a pitch and sauntered over to first. With the bases loaded and a single out on the board, it was up to Johnson to execute and give the Eagles their first lead. He delivered. Johnson cleared the bases with a three-RBI double to the right, putting the Eagles on the board before a roaring Boston crowd. But the Eagles weren’t finished. Danny Surowiec scored Johnson with an RBI single, tying the game 4–4 heading into the fifth.
Despite a Nick Wang strikeout to open the bottom of the fifth, Toomey and Hendrickson hit consecutive singles in the fifth, and Gallo walked, then a sacrifice fly from Johnson gave BC its first lead of the game. Virginia Tech mounted a double play after that, taking out Gallo and Johnson to close out the inning with the Eagles up 5–4.
The sixth frame marked Miller’s career-high 104th pitch of the afternoon, and he didn’t slow down. The game continued on as a tale of two pitchers, as Virginia Tech’s Renfrow took out BC in order in the bottom of the sixth.
“We just have a lot of belief in Brady [Miller],” Interdonato said. “We were actually talking about taking him out after the fifth, and, you know, when we’re kind of on the fence, I always say to Ryan, ‘Hey, go talk to the kid, and kind of see where he’s at.’ I walked back off, and right as Ryan was telling me that Brady said he was good, Brady ran by me and slapped me on the leg, and that was it. I mean, what did he have, a five, six-pitch inning?”
Sean Hard stepped in for Miller in the seventh, and Nick Locurto immediately notched a walk, then advanced to third off a single. A wild pitch scored Locurto and brought Ball to second, earning Virginia Tech’s first run since the second inning and knotting the score 5–5. John Kwiatkowski quickly relieved Hard, induced a double play, and got the Eagles out of the inning.
Ethan Grim took the mound for the Hokies in the bottom of the seventh, and Ty Mainolfi launched a leadoff single. Wang put up a single of his own, and Mainolfi advanced to third. Hendrickson was hit with a ball to the shoulder, loading the bases. Virginia Tech underwent yet another change in response, as Brendan Yagesh headed out to pitch.
All eyes were on Gallo. The freshman lined his first pitch to center, scoring Mainolfi. Leading 6–5, the Eagles racked up insurance points when Johnson was hit by a pitch to send Wang home and bump Hendrickson and Gallo into scoring position.
The Eagles brought on Kyle Wolff as a pinch hitter, and he launched a sacrifice fly to deep right, advancing all three runners and making it 8–5 BC. That three-point cushion was promptly pulled out from under the Eagles, though. While Kwiatkowski struck out the first two hitters he faced in the eighth, he gave up a walk and a single to put two runners on. A triple from Locurto trimmed BC’s lead to 8–7.
Julio Solier doubled, and Mainolfi followed up with a sac bunt in the bottom of the frame, raising Solier to third. Wang was intentionally walked, but Gallo grounded out to close out the penultimate inning. Virginia Tech responded with some heat in top of the ninth, leading off with back-to-back singles that forced BC to turn to Gavin Soares.
But it was Johnson and Gallo who would close the game out. The pair caught the runner at third napping for a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play to end the game in an 8–7 BC win.
“So, in total transparency, I did not see it,” Interdonato said of the game-winning play. “I take zero credit for it. That was all Gunnar, Luke, Julio, so those guys have to get 100 percent of the credit.”
