Boston College Baseball Weekend Recap

The Boston College baseball team started their conference schedule over the weekend with a three-game series against North Carolina State. The Eagles managed to pick up a win in the third game of the weekend after dropping the first two in very different ways. Because of some weather issues in North Carolina, the BC and NC State played a doubleheader on Saturday.

FRIDAY: NC State 2- BC 1

The Eagles couldn’t find their bats in the opening game of the series and the gem thrown by Jacob Stevens went to waste when an NC State hit a two out, two run home run in the bottom of the eighth to give the Wolfpack the win. Stevens was brilliant all afternoon, striking out eight and going the distance for BC. Despite allowing only five hits on the day, Stevens (2-2) was saddled with the hard luck loss, with one of his final 107 pitches being the key mistake in the game.

BC managed just three hits on the day, with their lone run coming on a ground-rule double by Brian Dempsey in the fifth inning. The Eagles had a big chance to extend their lead in the top of the eighth when they put runners on second and third with one out, but an infield pop up and a lineout stranded both of the runners to end the inning. BC went quietly in the ninth, going down in order to end the game.

SATURDAY GAME 1: NC State 13- BC 7

The second game of the series and the first of Saturday’s doubleheader was much less of a pitcher’s duel, with both teams doing plenty of damage early and often. BC jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after one and pushed it to 3-0 in the second, but NC State stormed back by scoring twice in the second, twice in the third, and then four times in the bottom of the fourth to take an 8-4 lead. BC fought their way back into it, using a two run sixth to cut the lead in half, but NC State’s bats came back to life shortly thereafter, scoring twice in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth to put the game away.

Gian Martellini hit a solo homerun in the Eagle’s half of the eighth as a consolation prize for the afternoon. It was Martellini’s first of the season and capped off a three RBI day at the plate for the junior. Jake Palomaki, Dante Baldelli, and Chris Galland all had two hit days to help pace the offense as well. Dan Metzdorf (0-2) had a rough day on the mound for Boston College, lasting only three innings and giving up six runs.

SATURDAY GAME 2: BC 11- NC State 3

Boston College got a second great pitching out of the weekend in the final game of the series as Brian Rapp (2-1) threw seven shutout innings to lead BC to their first ACC win of the season. Rapp struck out eight and allowed just two hits on the day and was mostly able to coast after the Eagles’ bats erupted early on.

After a two run top of the first for BC, the Eagles put up a seven spot in the third inning to effectively put the game to bed early. The big blow came on a bases loaded double by Jake Alu that plated all three runners after an NC State throwing error. Alu along with Scott Braren and Jack Cunningham drove in multiple runs on the day, with Braren collecting three hits to match his career high. Palomaki had two hits of his own to extend his hit streak to eight games and cap off a fantastic weekend that saw him go 5-for-11 at the plate.

NEXT UP

The Eagles will open up their new park on Tuesday afternoon when they host Holy Cross on Brighton campus (weather permitting). They’ll dive right back into ACC play next weekend when they travel to Virginia for a three game series with the Cavaliers.