Boston College Baseball: Weekly Roundup

The Eagles (12-11, 3-6) ushered in spring with a busy week of baseball in Boston.

On Tuesday, they took a quick bus ride across town to Brookline, and fell to Northeastern. Joe Mancini (2-2) got the start and took the loss for the Eagles. Mancini conceded two runs across four innings on five hits and two strikeouts.

The Huskies led 2-0 in the 5th, when Sal Frelick knocked in Chris Galland with an RBI single. But Northeastern answered with a run of their own in the 5th to regain a two run lead. BC pushed across another run in the 8th on an RBI groundout by Gian Martellini, but the Huskies answered once again in the bottom half with a run, and held on for the 4-2 win.

BC welcomed Siena to Harrington Athletics Village on Wednesday afternoon. The teams combined for 27 hits, as every player in the Saints lineup collected a hit, and six different Eagles notched multi-hit games: Brian Dempsey (2-4), Cody Morissette (2-3), Martellini (3-4), Peter Burns (2-4), Joe Suozzi (2-4), and Dante Baldelli (2-4).

In a bizarre twist, each of the 27 aforementioned hits was a single, leading to a back-and-forth affair. Siena jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, but BC answered with three runs in the 2nd, including RBI singles (obviously) by Baldelli and Burns.

With the game tied 5-5 in the 7th, Morrissette drove in the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice, and Martellini added an insurance run with an RBI single. Travis Lane pitched two scoreless innings to pick up the save in a 7-5 Eagles win.

BC then hosted ACC foe #20 Clemson for a three game series, and dropped two of three.

The Tigers lit up BC starter Dan Metzdorf (2-2) in Friday’s opener, en rout to an 8-1 win. Metzdorf allowed seven earned runs across 7.1 innings, on seven hits, three walks, two hit batsmen, and six strikeouts.

Third baseman Jake Alu went 2-4, and first basemen Jack Cunningham 3-4 to lead the offense, but the Eagles were only able to muster one run on a Martellini sacrifice fly in the 9th.

Matt Gill (2-3) got the start in game two and took the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits in 2.1 innings.

BC began chipping away at Clemson’s 5-0 lead in the 4th, as Alu drove in Frelick on a sacrifice fly, and Dempsey stole second, then advanced all the way home on two Tiger throwing errors. But Clemson answered with two runs in the 6th to go up 7-2.

DH Lucas Stalman drove in Frelick and Dempsey with a double in the 6th, but the Tigers picked up two more runs on a triple in the 8th. Martellini brought BC within four on an RBI single in the 9th, and Dempsey, already 3-4 on the day, came to the plate representing the tying run, with the bases loaded and two outs. Dempsey flew out to right, and Clemson held on for the 9-5 victory.

Mason Pelio (3-1) took the mound for Sunday’s matinee, and continued his brilliant freshman campaign for the Eagles. Pelio pitched 6.2 innings, allowing only an unearned run on four hits, five walks, and eight strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to a cool 2.15.

Martellini continued to drive in runs for the BC offense, this time on a solo home run in the 2nd that gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead. Alu pushed another run across in the 7th with a RBI bunt single to make it 3-1.

The Tigers picked up a run in the 8th, but Joey Walsh shut the door for his 2nd save of the season, preserving the 3-2 victory.

Next up: The Eagles play UCONN on the road on Wednesday, before a weekend series at Florida State.