Boston College Baseball Takes Down Clemson in Extras

BC beat Clemson in 11 innings to open up ACC tournament play in Durham, NC.

Freshman Mason Pelio saw his ERA jump from 1.64 to 3.82 over his final five starts of the regular season, but he rediscovered the form that garnered him ACC All-Freshman accolades. Pelio held the Tigers to two runs, one earned, on three hits and four walks across six innings.

The Eagles scored five of their seven runs on the long ball. Cody Morissette, freshly minted with All-ACC 2nd team and ACC All-Freshman team honors, went three for six with two home runs and three RBIs. His two-run homer in the 3rd put BC ahead 2-1, and a moonshot in the 5th made it 4-1. Joe Suozzi squeezed in a bomb of his own in the 4th.

Thomas Lane relieved Pelio in the 7th, staked to a 4-2 lead. With the bases loaded and two outs, All-ACC 1st teamer Grayson Byrd drove a ball to the track in center, but Dante Baldelli settled under it, and the Eagles exhaled.

Brian Dempsey took the Tigers deep again in the 8th, clearing the high wall in left, upping the lead to 5-2. Lane exited in the 8th with a runner on third and two outs. Matt Gill entered and promptly allowed a run-scoring hit, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases. Gill departed without recording an out, spelled by Joey Walsh. Michael Green then singled in two runs, charged to Gill, knotting the score at five heading into the 9th.

A hard hit grounder off the bat of Peter Burns ate up the first baseman, scoring Lucas Stalman to break the tie in the 11th. Baldelli followed up with an RBI single to make it 7-5.

Walsh finished off the game with 3.1 strong innings of relief, earning the win.

Up next: BC takes on #1 seeded Louisville at 11am tomorrow. A win would advance the Eagles through the group stage.

Here’s a rundown of the All-ACC honors:

All-ACC First Team - Dan Metzdorf

All-ACC Second Team - Cody Morissette & Sal Frelick

All-ACC Third Team - Jake Alu

ACC All-Freshman Team - Frelick, Morissette, Mason Pelio