Boston College Baseball Rallies but Falls to Troy in NCAA Tournament Opener, 11-10

On Friday afternoon, Boston College baseball played their opening game of the 2023 NCAA tournament against the Troy Trojans down in Tuscaloosa, AL. The regional, hosted by the Alabama Crimson Tide, is a double elimination format involving 4 teams, meaning two losses will knock a team out of the tournament. Boston College lost against Troy, 11-10, after putting together a late rally that fell just short.

The first inning started about as poorly as it possibly could have for BC when they immediately gave up 3 runs to the Trojans before finally retiring the side. BC starting pitcher John West came into the game on a hot streak with an ERA below 2 since pitching against Clemson back in April, but he got himself in an early hole in this one and was taken out by the 3rd inning.

BC got a run back in the bottom of the first to make it 3-1 and Barry Walsh hit a two-run shot in the second inning, knotting it right back up for BC 3-3 after two. And with quite a thunderous bat, the game went to a rain delay immediately following Walsh’s homer for a long while, finally starting back up again after about 2 hours.

When the game finally got started again, Joey Vetrano hit a hell of a solo dinger in the fifth inning to give BC a 4-3 lead. Eric Schroeder came in to pitch and lifted the Eagles defensively, not allowing a single run for over 4 innings, but Joey Ryan came in and things fell apart. Troy got several runners on base and launched two home runs to take a commanding 8-4 lead in the seventh.

Sam McNulty responded in the bottom half of the inning with a 2 RBI double, but Troy had an answer of their own to go up 10-6 entering the bottom of the eighth.

Then BC got the bats really going! With two runners on base, Vetrano homered AGAIN to bring the game within a run entering the ninth. Troy scored again in the ninth to make it 11-9, so the Eagles got to work. BC loaded the bases with nobody out and scored a runner on a sac fly. But a line out from Roche and a ground out from Vetrano left them just short of a comeback, 11-10.

Now that they’ve lost, Boston College will be playing elimination games from here on out in the regional. Any losses mean that they are done for the season. They will next play tomorrow against the loser of tonight’s Alabama-Nicholls State game.