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It was a tough weekend for the Eagles, both at the plate and on the mound, as Boston College mustered only nine runs in the series, while giving up 27, in three losses to the twelfth-ranked Clemson Tigers at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Clemson jumped out to an early 5-1 lead through six innings on Thursday night, and Tigers’ starter Jacob Hennessy combined with two relievers to hold BC scoreless until the ninth, in a 10-2 win for the home team. Eagles’ starter Jacob Stevens shouldered the loss after going five innings and giving up five runs. Freshman Chris Galland led BC at the plate, going 2 for 4 on the evening.
Friday’s game again saw Clemson jump out to an early lead, scoring four runs off Boston College starter Dan Metzdorf in the bottom of the first. Though Metzdorf would eventually settle in, striking out nine Tiger batters over 4.2 innings pitched, the damage was already done and Clemson cruised to a 9-4 win, giving them the series win. Catcher Gian Martellini went 3 for 4 and redshirt junior Scott Braren and senior Anthony Maselli each hit a home in the game.
Boston College had their best chance to win on Saturday afternoon, as the Eagles held a 3-2 lead over Clemson going into the bottom of the fifth, but the Tigers scored three runs in the inning, another in the seventh, and two more in the eighth en route to a 8-3 win. Sophomore centerfielder Dante Baldelli went 2 for 4 in the loss, with an RBI.
Some Thoughts:
It was a tough weekend for Boston College in South Carolina. While there is a lot to pick apart from the series, to me, the most disappointing facet of the three losses was the way the Clemson offense dominated the Eagles’ pitching staff, after entering the weekend as the worst hitting team (average-wise) in the conference. It also didn’t help that the BC arms issued 19 walks on the weekend, allowing for multiple big innings in the three games. It was also disheartening to see the Eagles’ offense struggle to score runs in all three games. Granted, Clemson has a talented staff, but BC has faced more talented staffs this season (see NC State and Virginia) and scored at a much higher rate, including out scoring the Wolfpack, one of the best offenses in the nation, in the season’s first conference weekend. Both of those issues combined in to hand Boston College three losses this weekend, dropping their conference record to 4-8. With two midweek games scheduled for this week against Harvard in the first round of the Beanpot Tournament on Tuesday and UMass on Wednesday, and then a very winnable ACC series at home against Pittsburgh, the Eagles need to get back to what made them successful early in the season, namely, hunting fastballs at the plate and attacking hitters on the mound, and take at least two games from the Panthers to climb back into the ACC Atlantic race.