The afternoon couldn’t have gone better for the Eagles.
The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and a three-run first inning propelled No. 23 Boston College to start hot and hold steady, winning the series over Virginia Tech.
From the packed stands and thunderous applause, it’s evident that Birdball is holding the weight of BC athletics on its shoulders. The Eagles (26–12, 11–7 Atlantic Coast) racked up runs early and held the Hokies (16–18, 7–11) off, coming out on top 6–2 and winning the weekend series 2–1.
“The community is with us, and that’s certainly been a factor [in our success],” said BC baseball head coach Todd Interdonato. “Winning comes with a lot of good things, right? And that’s one of them. The fact that we’ve continued to win has continued to bring them out. I can’t imagine what it’s going to look like when the weather’s good.”
BC is used to starting from behind. After trailing 4–0 in Saturday’s game, a late offensive surge gave the Eagles the 8–7 win and momentum for the next afternoon.
But that momentum was quickly tested. With the bases loaded after a fielding error, a single, and a runner reaching on a fielder’s choice, BC found itself in the danger zone in the bottom of the first.
The Eagles, however, learned from their mistakes. All was forgiven on a double play with the help of Luke Gallo to get out Sam Grube and put BC up to the plate for the first time in the afternoon.
Virginia Tech pitcher Griffin Stieg struck out Julio Solier swinging, but the second hitter, Ty Mainolfi, managed to scrape out a single. Nick Wang followed up, notching two strikes before blasting out a hit to bump Mainolfi into scoring position.
Jack Toomey stepped up to bat and promptly launched a double to bring Mainolfi home. Now up 1–0, the Eagles struck gold off a Carter Hendrickson groundout, scoring Wang. Gallo hit a single, scoring Toomey and building a 3–0 lead. BC then held the Hokies scoreless in the second, with Owen Petrich gaining the only hit of the inning.
Danny Surowiec christened the bottom of the second, ripping a single to center field. A trademark sac bunt from Colin Larson and a Solier single worked to score Surowiec. No further insurance runs could be found when Mainolfi and Wang flew out in order.
Zero runs, zero hits, and zero left on base was the tragic tale of Virginia Tech’s third inning, as two groundouts and Tyler Mudd’s pitching took out the hitters in order.
“I thought he was mixing really well,” Interdonato said about Mudd’s performance. “The idea was maybe to be able to get a couple innings out of him in the midweek and then roll him around Sunday because he had eight days instead of seven. And, you know, just the way the two midweeks played out, we didn’t need him. So once he got the extra day, we felt like maybe he could go longer than he’s gone.”
Toomey singled before Hendrickson was hit by a pitch and jogged over to first. Yet another sac bunt put players on second and third, leaving things up to Gunnar Johnson, who promptly capitalized. His two-RBI double widened the gap to a 6–0 lead.
Virginia Tech’s bats woke up in the fourth, generating back-to-back singles from Ethan Gibson and Sam Gates that put the Hokies on the board—a slight dent in BC’s now five-run lead. To BC’s detriment, relief pitcher Aiden Robertson came out for Virginia Tech. The junior took out the Eagles in order, marking the first inning of the afternoon in which the Eagles hadn’t put up a run.
The Hokies continued to build in the fifth as Henry Cooke sent it out of the park for his third home run of the year, bringing the score to 6–2. BC managed to avoid any further damage, securing a strikeout and a flyout to end the top half.
If the opening innings were a walk in the park for the Eagles, the fifth was a rainy-day trudge. A sac bunt and two strikeouts from Robertson derailed the team as they went silent for the second frame in a row.
BC’s defense showed up in the sixth, securing two groundouts and a foul-out to boot. Virginia Tech followed suit as the Eagles grounded out twice and Solier struck out swinging. The pitchers continued to dig in during the seventh, both teams holding steady.
Mudd came off the mound at the top of the eighth. In his seven-inning outing, he allowed just two earned runs and had a tendency to force ground balls. The Massachusetts native recorded a career-high 105 pitches before sending it over to Kyle Kipp for relief. Kipp followed in his footsteps, closing out the game with two scoreless innings.
“I’m thankful to be out there in any role,” Mudd said. “Being a Massachusetts kid, it’s always been my dream to play in Boston College, so I’m just so grateful and thankful to, you know, be on the mound any time I am.”
