Weekly Recap: Boston College Baseball Goes 1-3, Gets Swept by #14 NC State

Boston College baseball had a full slate of games this past week, with a midweek matchup against UNC Wilmington before their first ACC series of the year against No. 14 NC State over the weekend. Birdball went 1-3 on its road trip and fell to 7-6 (0-3) on the season. BC’s offense scored 35 times in four games, but the pitching staff struggled mightily, surrendering 39 runs. At this point in the year, there is still plenty of time for the Eagles’ pitchers to turn things around, but the staff is certainly the weakness of this team. It may be up to the Birdball bats to win games for this team as the year continues.

Offensive fireworks are becoming a theme with this year’s Birdball team and they lit up the scoreboard again on Tuesday against the UNC Wilmington Seahawks. In this matchup of bird mascots, the Eagles tallied 14 hits and took the game by a score of 14-7. Sean Hard started the game for BC, pitching one inning and giving up a two-run homer, but the Eagles took the lead in the second and didn’t give it back.

Birdball scored three runs in the second and five in the third to take an 8-2 lead in the ballgame. In the top of the second inning, Sam McNulty came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and worked a walk. Patrick Roche smacked a two-run single to left field to give BC a 3-2 lead.

In the third, BC scored five runs on just one hit and one error. Nick Wang led off the frame with a single and Vince Cimini and Wolff walked to load the bases. Wang scored on a sac fly from Parker Landwehr and another walk loaded the bases again, this time for Magpoc. He beat out a throw to first and a throwing error by the Seahawks allowed all three Eagles to score, giving BC a 7-2 lead. Magpoc moved to third on a wild pitch and McNulty walked. McNulty attempted to steal second and got himself caught in a rundown, allowing Magpoc to steal home and extend the Eagles’ lead to 8-2.

BC pitching allowed two runs in the third and fifth and one more in the seventh, but UNC Wilmington was never really back in the game thanks to BC’s offense. After their five-run third inning, Birdball scored again in every inning except for the fifth. Cameron Leary mashed two solo homers, his third and fourth of the year, and Cimini, Roche, and Wolff all collected RBI.

Five BC batters finished with multiple hits and six finished with at least one RBI. Brian McMonagle earned his first win of the year after pitching two innings and giving up two runs on three hits and three strikeouts. Jordan Fisse and Gavin Hasche both pitched scoreless innings and BC pitching collected 18 strikeouts in the game as Birdball notched its seventh win of 2024.

Due to bad weather conditions that were forecasted for Saturday, the Eagles kicked off ACC play with a doubleheader on Friday against No. 14 NC State, dropping both games. The Eagles lost the first game 5-4 in 11 innings, despite two strong pitching outings.

John West made his fourth start of the year and went 6.1 innings, giving up four runs and striking out five batters. Tyler Mudd finished the game for BC, throwing 4.1 innings and punching out six. But he was also tagged with the loss after he gave up a walk-off bloop single to the Wolfpack.

The Eagles trailed 4-0 in the sixth inning before RBI singles by Landwehr and Roche brought BC within one. They tied the game in the eighth on another RBI single from Roche, but ultimately lost in the 11th inning.

In the second game of the day, Birdball matched the Wolfpack step for step until the bullpen faltered in the sixth. A.J. Colarusso started for the Eagles and pitched five innings of one-run ball on two hits and five strikeouts. Wang tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning with a solo shot, his third homer of the year.

But with Michael Farinelli on in relief, NC State scored seven runs in the sixth inning on six hits, two walks, and one error, putting the game comfortably out of reach. The Eagles only managed four hits in the game, although their offense would turn around in the final game of the series.

In Sunday’s matinee, BC and NC State scored 34 combined runs in a game where pitching was a total afterthought. The Eagles trailed 7-1 entering the fourth inning before Wolff hit a solo home run in the fourth and Wang, Leary, and Wolff hit three solo shots in the fifth.

The Wolfpack answered back by scoring four runs in the bottom of the frame and another in the sixth to take a 12-6 lead. BC scored once in the seventh, but NC State scored four more times in the same inning. The Eagle offense put up a valiant effort by scoring five runs in the eighth off of homers by Caraher and Wang and a single by Wolff.

NC State was ahead, 18-12, entering the ninth inning when BC took its last at-bats. The Eagles loaded the bases for Roche, who hammered a pitch to left field for a grand slam, but that would end the scoring for the game and BC lost 18-16. Wang collected three hits and six RBI, Roche had two hits and four RBI, and Wolf had four hits and three RBI.

The weekend might not have gone well, but there are plenty of games left on the schedule. Birdball will have a chance to end its three-game losing streak on Tuesday in a home game against Merrimack.