The last weekend of September ends on a mostly dry note as high pressure builds into New England from the north.  No major weather issues are expected during the 48 hour period which is great news if you have any outdoor plans but a light jacket or sweatshirt should be kept close by.

We’ll see a good amount of mid to high level clouds dimming out the sunshine this afternoon across southern New England, a stray shower or sprinkle may sneak in from the south across CT & western MA, but  with dry air in place, it’ll be tough for them to move much further than that. 

To the north, we’ll see a good amount of blue sky which will be great backdrop for taking some pictures of the peak foliage occurring across portions of northern Vermont to northern Maine!  Highs today reach the mid to upper 60s at the coast, low to mid 70s well inland.

Quiet overnight tonight with mid to high level clouds blanketing much of the region preventing temperatures from dropping too low.  Patchy fog will likely develop across many of the valleys inland and along the immediate coast.  Lows in the 50s with a few 40s showing up inland and across northern New England.

Sunday will be similar to today with more in the way of clouds and the slight risk for a shower or sprinkle across CT & western MA again.  Temperatures will be slightly cooler with highs in the mid 60s along the coast, upper 60s to around 70 inland.

Our dry and close to seasonable stretch continues into the beginning of next week as high pressure stays in control with temps close to 70 Monday, back in the 60s Tuesday.  It’s not until late Tuesday into Wednesday when we see our next chance for showers as a cold front approaches from the west. 

Earlier thoughts were for it to pick up some moisture from the remnant of Helene, which is not nearly as devastating as it once was, and deliver us some much-needed H20, but it now looks like it will kick Helene’s remnant south of New England resulting in scattered showers rather than widespread showers which is featured on our Exclusive 10-Day Forecast!

Have a great afternoon!

The Boston College Eagles men’s hockey team kicks off its season on Friday, Oct. 11 against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. 

As the season draws closer, we’re taking a look and profiling each member of the 2024-25 roster. Up next is forward Gentry Shamburger.

Shamburger is entering his fifth season with the Eagles. During his time in Chestnut Hill, he has appeared in 83 games and tallied two goals and one assist for three points. In his sophomore campaign, he won 26 faceoffs and blocked 13 shots.

Prior to joining the Eagles, the 23-year-old spent four seasons with the USHS-Prep program Avon Old Farms School (2016-20) where he appeared in 106 games and tallied ten goals and 24 assists for 34 points. During the 2018-19 season, he recorded the third-most assists (ten) and tied for the sixth-most points on the team. 

Other stints during his hockey career include the TPH Thunder 14U AAA (2014-15) and 16U AAA (2015-16) teams as well as the Buffalo Regals 18U AAA (2017-18) and the Mid Fairfield Rangers 18U AAA (2018-19) teams. 

Name: Gentry Shamburger

Hometown: Atlanta, Ga. 

Year: Graduate

Position: Forward

Number: 14

Shoots: R

Measurements: 6’1” 203 lbs

This is an ongoing series from Boston College Eagles On SI. Check out the rest of the men’s hockey Player Profile series here: Eamon Powell | Jacob Fowler | Nolan Joyce | Teddy Stiga| Drew Fortescue | Aidan Hreschuk | Lukas Gustafsson | Ryan Leonard | James Hagens | Michael Hagens | Mike Posma.

For the last few years one of the biggest questions surrounding Boston’s young starting pitchers was whether or not they could survive a full 162-game season. Guys like Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello had shown they could compete against big league hitters, but could they maintain their stuff deep into August and September?

The answer, it turns out, is a resounding yes.

This weekend Houck, Crawford and Bello wrap up successful seasons in which each will exceed 30 starts for the first time in their careers. Houck and Crawford will both approach 180 innings, and while an early-season injury will prevent Bello from nearing that mark, he has also made every start since mid-May and gotten better as the season’s gone along.

Even if the season ultimately fell short of expectations, the trio’s emergence as legitimate rotation anchors has massive implications for the club’s future.

“We felt like they were capable of it,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “They worked hard in the offseason to get to this point physically. Bello, you see the evolution of the body. Kutter put some weight. And Tanner, he’s Tanner. He’s very consistent in everything he does on the field, in the weight room and in the training room.”

Crawford, who is scheduled to make his 33rd and final start on Saturday, comes into the weekend with a 4.17 ERA over 179.1 innings. Barring a change of plan, he will become just the fifth Red Sox pitcher in the last decade to make 33 starts in a season, and probably also the third to top 180 innings since 2019.

Reaching those totals is particularly gratifying for Crawford after he spent his first two full MLB seasons bouncing back and forth between the rotation, bullpen and injured list. He said his goal was to make at least 30 starts and throw 162 innings, but while he’s happy to have accomplished that, there’s still more work to be done.

“I feel good about my ability to stay healthy and make the starts and post every five days, but there are also other stuff that needs to be worked on,” Crawford said. “I’m not satisfied with where my velo is at, I’m obviously not satisfied with how many homers I’ve given up this year. I haven’t given up necessarily as many hits, but when I have gotten hit it’s been hit hard.”

Pitching coach Andrew Bailey, who praised Crawford’s progress and work ethic, offered a similar assessment of what it’ll take to reach the next level.

“Obviously the long balls hurt him,” Bailey said. “So finding ways to stay off barrels, whether that’s increasing velo, honing in on some of the more intricacies of the shapes, specifically the splitter.”

With nothing to play for and having battled shoulder fatigue over the past few weeks, Houck won’t make his final scheduled start on Sunday, wrapping up a breakout year in which the 28-year-old earned his first career All-Star nod and established himself as a front-of-the-rotation guy. Houck finishes with a 3.12 ERA over 178.2 innings in 30 starts, all by far the best totals of his career.

And even Bello, who got off to a rocky start, finished the year on a high note. The 25-year-old missed three weeks with lat tightness in April and May and boasted a 5.32 ERA heading into the All-Star break, but from July 20 onwards he recorded a 3.47 ERA over 72.2 innings, a stretch that included one of the best outings of his career, an eight-shutout-inning gem against the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 28.

“l learned a lot this year,” Bello said via translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “I was able to finish strong, I gave everything my last few outings so to be able to start pretty much every outing since May was a huge accomplishment for me.”

With the core of the starting rotation now firmly in place, the Red Sox should be much better positioned to supplement the group with additional up-and-coming arms along with new external additions this coming winter. But even if the Red Sox are happy with the steps their young pitchers have taken, the hope is this is just the start of their journey, not the ultimate destination.

“For me moving forward it sets the bar for these guys,” Bailey said. “On what we expect and continuing to drive performance.”