Boston College baseball has won four consecutive games for the first time all season, thanks to the events of Wednesday afternoon.
After back-to-back, series-winning victories over Wake Forest last weekend, the Eagles (21–20, 9–12 Atlantic Coast) backed it up with a mercy-rule win over Quinnipiac.
Then, in their midweek matchup, they managed to keep themselves in the win column, beating UMass Lowell (14–25, 6–9 America East ) 5–4.
Despite eventually coming out with a win, it was not BC that struck first. In fact, the Eagles fell down 2–0 quickly in the top of the second inning, as Kyle Kipp pitched a leadoff double, then UMass Lowell followed that up with a two-run homer.
Kipp pitched three batters out in order after that, however.
Then, after Kipp pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third, BC’s offense managed to get on the board in the bottom of the frame.
With two outs on the board, Josiah Ragsdale stepped up to bat and slammed a double down the middle, then an RBI single from Patrick Roche cut the River Hawks’ lead to one.
Then, following a scoreless top half of the fourth, BC managed to knot the game.
Kyle Wolff popped up and Gavin Johnson fouled out to start the inning, putting the Eagles in a tight spot. But a single from Vince Cimini, followed by an RBI double from Adam Magpoc, managed to even things out.
BC scored another run to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. UMass Lowell walked three batters, Wolff got hit by a pitch, and the River Hawks committed not only an error, but also a wild pitch.
Despite a poor showing from their opponent, though, the Eagles were only able to tack on one run in the frame. It was Ragsdale that scored on the wild pitch, which inspired a pitching change for the River Hawks.
Even with a triple from Magpoc to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning, the Eagles did not muster any more runs until the very final half inning of the game. And those runs were out of necessity.
The River Hawks scored two runs in the top of the ninth with JD Ogden on the mound. Despite starting off the inning by pitching consecutive strikeouts, things quickly went south for the Eagles when Ogden gave up two walks and two singles, all in a row, allowing UMass Lowell to regain a 4–3 lead.
The pressure was on. And somehow, someway, the Eagles managed to respond.
Roche walked, then consecutive singles from Jack Toomey and Wolff scored Roche to tie the game.
With runners on first and second, Johnson stepped up to bat. He was hit by the pitch, loading the bases.
A Cimini single was all it took for Toomey to score the game-winning run, giving the Eagles their longest winning streak of the year up to this point.
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