Quinnipiac’s Chris Smith led off the top of the second with a double to get an already-raucous Bobcats dugout even more fired up.
But just four pitches later, Josiah Ragsdale caught Smith sleeping on the basepaths and doubled him up after catching a line drive in center field.
And that seemed to be the biggest energy shift in the game.
Because just an inning later, Boston College baseball (20–20, 9–12 Atlantic Coast) would string together five hits and eight runs in its 15–2 routing of Quinnipiac (22–15–1, 13–5 Metro Atlantic) on Tuesday evening.
The Eagles would put a run on the board in every following inning, never letting off the gas pedal.
“I just thought our guys were ready to hit,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “And they did a good job splitting counts, which is what we talked about a good bit.”
The first two innings made it seem like it would be a hard-nosed defensive battle—both schools recorded hits in the first and second, but a few double plays and catching runners stealing kept the game knotted at 0–0.
Then the third inning rolled along.
Cesar Gonzalez led off with a strikeout, but believe it or not, he would get another chance in the same inning. After two straight walks and a hit by pitch, Jack Toomey came in clutch with a bases-loaded double to bring the first two runs home.
Kyle Wolff then got Patrick Roche to cross the plate on a fielder’s choice to third base, and starter Grif Seibel was promptly pulled.
“Situationally, we did a really good job, right, like Toomey sitting bases loaded, less than two outs, it stays late and hammers that ball down the right-field line,” Interdonato said.
But BC immediately kept the ball rolling, with Vince Cimini delivering a sacrifice fly, Sam McNulty singling through the middle, and Adam Magpoc driving in two more on his single for a 6–0 lead.
With two outs on the board, Gonzalez stepped up to the plate again and continued the rally with a single and quickly stole second base. Then, Jorge Solier knocked BC’s third 2 RBI hit of the inning with a single down the right-field line.
Other than Brady Miller’s first-inning shakiness, a Bobcat never reached third base in his next four innings.
Interdonato commented on Miller’s performance and the importance of his outing with a five-game week ahead for the Eagles.
“We talked before the game like this was just a start, like this wasn’t ‘Hey, let’s get ‘em up, get ‘em out,’” he said. “Like it was ‘Hey man, take the start and just go get it.’ So he did a really good job of giving us some length.”
Tyler Mudd had his turn on the mound against Quinnipiac in his two innings, given the seven-inning mercy rule, matching Miller with three strikeouts and only conceding two runs on five hits.
Wolff tacked on another RBI on a groundout to third in the fourth inning, and Cimini added an exclamation point with a solo shot to left field for a 10–0 lead.
Magpoc began the fifth inning with a walk, and one sacrifice bunt and a steal later, Solier sent him home from third base on a single through the middle. Solier then rounded to third from a steal and a throwing error, and Ragsdale’s groundout put BC up 12–0.
A back-to-back double and single from Toomey and Wolff allowed Cimini to tally his third RBI on a groundout to the pitcher, and then the second exclamation point was added.
Magpoc bombed the second pitch he saw over the right-field wall and gave BC its third-largest run total of the season for the 15–2 victory.
“I thought our advantage count swings were really good,” Interdonato said. “I thought when we were ahead in the count, we put some really good, aggressive swings on it like Adam’s two-run home run and Vince’s home run.”
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