Sunday: L, 4–3 

Sunday afternoon’s rubber match went down in a flurry of pitching. And after all was said and done, Clemson came out on top.

The come-from-behind victory saw No. 20 Boston College baseball (35–16, 17–10 Atlantic Coast) take the early lead, only for the Tigers (28–20, 8–16) to put up three runs in two innings and steal a conference series win. 

Julio Solier singled in BC’s very first at-bat of the game and was bumped to second after Nick Wang was hit by a pitch. BC’s classic small ball was on full display when a Ty Mainolfi sac bunt pushed Wang and Solier into scoring position. 

Clemson pitcher Aidan Knaak launched a breaking pitch, and Gunnar Johnson responded with a hit to third, scoring Solier. Another bunt—this time from freshman Luke Gallo—took Wang out at home, and Kyle Wolff struck out to round out the opening frame 1–0 BC. 

Clemson answered in the bottom of the second when Jarren Purify led off with a single, narrowly making it to first after firing the ball to the shortstop. He advanced to third off another single and tied the game 1–1 on a sacrifice fly. Left-paw Tyler Mudd mitigated the damage, striking out Talan Bell before the Tigers could take the lead.

Solier began the third inning in the same way he did the game, with a single. But Knaak stayed hot, sending Wang to the dugout on a strikeout and flying out Mainolfi. Solier took his shot and stole second, however, and the Eagles scored their second run exactly how they did their first, with a Johnson single that allowed Solier to run home and put BC up 2–1.

Both Knaak and Mudd settled into their games, then Gavin Soares came in to pitch for the Eagles in the fifth and forced a 1-2-3 inning for Clemson. 

The Eagles tacked another run onto their lead in the sixth, as Ben Williams singled up the middle and stole second with Colin Larson at bat. Larson’s RBI single scored Williams, extending the Eagles’ lead to 3–1. Knaak headed to the dugout after that play, with Ariston Veasey coming in to take his place. The move worked for the Tigers, as Solier grounded out and Wang struck out swinging. 

Soares held the Tigers off yet again in the bottom of the sixth. Despite giving up back-to-back singles, the Eagles turned a double play, and Soares pitched a strikeout to end the frame with their two-run lead intact. Things heated up in the bottom of the seventh, however, as Purify sent the ball out of the park with a homer to left field, cutting BC’s lead to one. 

Clemson hit its stride fully in the eighth. Relief pitcher Hayden Simmerson took out BC’s hitters 1-2-3, and the Tigers hit the bottom of the frame with a newfound determination. Jackson Moore came in as pinch hitter and executed with a single, then Nate Savoie followed with a single of his own. 

Moore and Savoie both moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt, then BC intentionally walked Jacob Jarrell to load the bases for Clemson as Tryston McCladdie came up to bat. The junior hit an RBI single through the right side, scoring Moore and putting Jarrell on third, while Savoie was caught at third for a second out. Just like that, the game was tied 3–3. 

Purify stepped up and hit yet another single to score Jarrell, giving Clemson its first lead of the game going into the final inning. And with Simmerson pitching and BC facing its last chance at salvaging the series, Solier grounded out, Wang walked, and Mainolfi and Johnson both struck out, ending the weekend series with a Tigers win. 

Saturday: L, 14–4 

Fresh off an 8–4 win to open the series, BC lost its momentum on Saturday and dropped the second game of its series at Clemson, as the Tigers mercy-ruled the Eagles in a 14–4 rout. The Eagles were off from the start, as Clemson matched a 1-2-3 first inning from the Eagles with 11 runs in the bottom of the frame, putting the Tigers ahead for good. 

Starting pitcher Brady Miller gave up a double and a walk to the first two batters he faced, then hit Jarrell with a pitch to load the bases. Miller followed that up by walking McCladdie, handing Clemson their first run of the game.

After that, the floodgates opened. 

Clemson didn’t record its second out of the inning until the Tigers had already scored 10 runs, and the only run Miller could muster was a fly out in the fourth at-bat of the frame. Other than that, he gave up three singles, a walk, and a three-RBI home run from Savoie. 

After Savoie’s homer put Clemson up 9–0, Eagles’ head coach Todd Interdonato took Miller out of the game, replacing him with John Mitchell. But Mitchell struggled, too, giving up a homer to the first batter he faced, then giving up a double to Jarrell. 

McCladdie struck out for the Tigers’ second out of the frame, but a hit-by-pitch and an RBI single tacked on one last run before Miller struck out Jack Crighton, and Clemson finished the inning with 11 runs off eight hits. 

BC didn’t score until the top of the third. The first run came from Williams, who hit a leadoff double, then stole third base, resulting in a Clemson throwing error that allowed Williams to find his way to home plate. A single from Solier, another from Mainolfi, and a third from Johnson scored Solier to cut Clemson’s lead to 11–2. 

But Clemson responded by scoring three runs of its own in the bottom of the frame, bringing the score to 14–2 at the end of the third inning. 

After that, scoring from both teams stopped until the seventh inning, when the Eagles scored two more runs off a two-RBI single from Solier to make it 14–4. Even with those runs, though, the Eagles were left with a 10-run deficit going into the bottom of the seventh, ending the game early and giving Clemson the mercy-rule win.

Friday: W, 8–4 

After climbing out to an early 4–0 lead, BC fended off the Tigers, holding them scoreless for the final four innings and using two late runs to extend their advantage and grab the series opener 8–4.

Wang opened the scoring early by getting a hold of a low breaking ball that carried over the left-field fence for a 1–0 BC lead. 

The Eagles continued their offensive push in the second inning, starting with a Danny Surowiec double down the right-field line that got the bats rolling. Williams hit his own double in the very next at-bat, scoring Surowiec from second in Williams’ first extra-base knock of the season.

Following a Solier RBI single that scored Williams, Wang slapped a double just over the first baseman into shallow right field, continuing his hot start at the plate and giving the Eagles an early 4–0 advantage.

“It just seems like no matter who we run out there, guys are going to find a way to contribute,” Interdonato said.

The Tigers responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, as Tyler Lichtenberger hit a single up the middle and Jason Fultz Jr. hit a two-out single, providing the Tigers runners on first and second. Off the bat of Bryce Clavon, Gallo made a throwing error that bounced past first base and ended up scoring two.

The Eagles took no time getting those runs back, though. Gallo bounced back from his error with a single, and Wolff got his hands on a 400-foot, two-RBI homer that expanded the Eagles’ lead back to 6–2.

“We knew when he rotated out [of the lineup], we hadn’t seen the end of Kyle Wolff,” Interdonato said. “What he’s done the last couple weekends, just propelling us … it’s just been great having him in the lineup again.”

The Eagles were threatening to score in their fourth consecutive inning after a single from Solier and a mid-at-bat intentional walk for Wang. But with two runners on, Mainolfi grounded into a double play, and the Tigers’ defense posted their first zero of the game. They held the Eagles scoreless again in the top of the fifth, then cut BC’s lead to two in the bottom of the frame. 

Shortly after a quick infield visit, Jarrell cranked a two-run home run over the left-field fence of Doug Kingsmore Stadium, cutting the deficit to 6–4 after five innings. Both teams were scoreless in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, as the game headed into the ninth with the Eagles still up two. 

Following the series of scoreless innings, Solier used a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth to give the Eagles an early runner on base. After a groundout from Wang and a wild pitch moved Solier to third, Mainolfi bounced a base hit just past the shortstop’s glove, earning his 47th RBI of the season as Solier ran home. The Eagles didn’t limit their cushion to three, though.

Mainolfi stole a bag to move into scoring position, reached third on a ground-ball read, and then scored after a suicide squeeze by Gallo. By the end of the inning, the Eagles had extended their lead by two without a lot of pop off the bat, showcasing their small-ball strategy in the 8–4 win.

“Being able to throw that knockout punch … our guys handled that really well and gave us a bigger cushion,” Interdonato said.

AJ Colarusso notched 85 pitches in his six innings on the mound, holding the Tigers to two earned runs while pitching eight strikeouts. Cesar Gonzalez picked up right where Colarusso left off, throwing three scoreless innings and three strikeouts of his own to slam the door shut on any comeback attempt.

“There’s nothing better than winning on Friday night on the road in this league—that’s just the highest of highs,” Interdonato said. “On the road, winning game one, only using one guy out of the pen just really sets us up … now we got to keep them on the mat.”