The Jesuits don’t usually condone stealing.
Boston College baseball put its Catholic roots aside for a few hours on Friday afternoon, though, setting a program record for single-game stolen bases with 14 and beating Duke 11–1 in six and a half innings.
The No. 24 Eagles (29–12, 12–7 Atlantic Coast) stole eight bases in the second frame alone, tying the NCAA record for the most bases stolen in a single inning. Duke (22–18, 8–11), which has stolen the most bases in the ACC this season (121), did not steal a single base in its run-rule road loss.
Senior A.J. Colarusso earned the nod at pitcher, earning his program-record 44th career start. He walked the first batter he faced, but BC later turned a double play to end the frame and keep the Blue Devils off the board.
“I love coaching [Colarusso], and he’s everything—he is ultra prepared, he puts Boston College in front of his own career, he works incredibly hard, he brings other guys with him, he’s very successful on the field, he’s selfless, he’s a leader,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “I don’t know what else you would want. There’s not one characteristic of A.J. that I would even think about improving.”
BC’s game plan was evident from the start. Julio Solier led off with a walk, then immediately dashed to steal second base. An RBI single from Ty Mainolfi in the next at-bat rewarded Solier’s hustle, as the sophomore infielder ran home for BC’s first run of the day. Mainolfi followed the exact same formula, and it paid off in the exact same way. After Mainolfi stole second, an RBI single from Nick Wang sent him home for a 2–0 lead.
“We prepared the way that we normally prepare, and I thought we saw a couple things on film that maybe we’d be able to take advantage of—sometimes those play out, sometimes they don’t,” Interdonato said.
Jack Toomey hit a strong double down the right-field line, the sound of the ball clanging off his bat echoing through the ballpark. Then, Luke Gallo’s RBI groundout scored Wang to cap off BC’s three-run first inning.
“We say it all the time—nothing starts until we get loud, hard contact on the field,” Interdonato said. “And the fact that we were getting loud, hard contact early is really what opened up everything.”
The second inning was disastrous for the Blue Devils, who gave up five runs on three hits and four walks. They changed pitchers twice, but nothing worked as two successful double steals helped BC build an 8–0 lead.
Colarusso gave up just one hit and one walk through the first three innings. The Blue Devils broke through in the fourth, loading the bases with no outs after Colarusso gave up a single, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch. BC let in one run but later turned its second double play of the day, which was followed by a Collin Anderson strikeout to end the top of the inning with Duke trailing 8–1.
Duke changed pitchers yet again after Gallo and Danny Surowiec hit back-to-back singles in the fourth, but Cesar Gonzalez turned Edward Hart’s very first pitch of the game into an RBI single into left field to stretch the Eagles’ lead back to eight.
The bottom of the fifth was BC’s last hurrah offensively, as Gallo hit an RBI single and Carter Hendrickson stole home, giving the Eagles an 11–1 advantage. Colarusso gave up one hit in the fifth, then posted back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh to close the game out early and hand BC a run-rule win.
Colarusso pitched all seven innings, giving up three hits, one run, and one walk.
“The fact that [Colarusso] gets to lead our staff and do that, and then set us up for the weekend—but he’s set us up all year, right?” Interdonato said. “The fact that he’s given us a good start almost every single Friday, he’s set us up all year. And kudos to him—that was really cool, that he was able to get that start in that fashion on this day, breaking that record.”
Despite a convincing win, BC isn’t looking past Duke.
“We know there’s a response in there,” Interdonato said. “We just need to be ready for it.”
