Boston College Baseball Loses To Duke 13-0; Program Needs Fixing

The Boston College baseball team fell to the Duke Blue Devils 13-0 in game 1 of their weekend series down in Durham. As has become a bit of a pattern, the Blue Devils broke the game open with a eight-run sixth inning to put away the Eagles. The loss extends the team's losing streak to 13 games, including the first nine in ACC play, continuing what has become a nightmare of a season for Birdball.

Going into the night, Duke was the second worst team in the conference in terms of record and BC gets shutout, outhit 13-4 and commits 3 errors. BC can't hit, can't pitch and can't field.

I can't ever recall this program being this non-competitive or this bad going back to my freshman year (and likely much further back than that). As it turns out, the Eagles worst season in history was a 6-18 campaign in 1979. Boston College's current winning percentage is .120 below that.

Already this season, four home games have been moved away from Eddie Pelligrini Field due to weather / unplayable field conditions (including three in conference play against the no. 1 team in the nation). Another two midweek dates have been cancelled with no makeup game announced. The home opener is now tentatively scheduled for this coming Wednesday vs. Harvard, but who knows whether that game will be played at BC at this point. Such is life when you play baseball on a parking lot.

BC has yet to prove that this program can be competitive in the ACC. You know that one year the program got back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the Kennedy administration? BC finished two games under .500 in conference play - the closest Birdball has ever gotten to an above .500 record. Through 8+ seasons the Eagles' conference record stands at 74-141 (.344).

I can't think of another program in the country playing with the deck so stacked against them as Boston College. The deck is so far stacked against a northern program in a league dominated by nationally ranked southern ones to begin with. Throw in underinvesting in the program and laughable facilities and it's no surprise that this program continues to flounder. There's probably a reason why, as the conference's long-time northernmost outpost, Maryland baseball has struggled to compete in the ACC ... other than the fact that they are Maryland.

The new Brighton Campus ball field and/or games at Fenway Park don't solve all the issues here. Unless you are building a dome, you still have to deal with inclement weather cancelling early season games (imagine if the Red Sox season began in mid-February). Selling college baseball when your program spends the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the year on the road is a tough sell for anyone; let alone a coaching staff that appears to be both understaffed and outmatched in the ACC.

Forget about men's lacrosse. Throwing the men's lacrosse issue only clouds the issue and adds unnecessary emotion to the decision-making process. The athletics department must evaluate whether or not it makes sense to be fielding a varsity baseball program that competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. If it is determined that this does in fact make sense, I am 100 percent on board with the decision only if the school invests the resources required to put a competitive team on the field.

If it's determined that this doesn't make sense, cut the cord. If you aren't fielding a competitive ballclub and aren't putting yourself in a position to win conference titles, I have no interest in the school pumping money into a noncompetitive varsity sports program. That investment can be used in a number of other, more appropriate ways.

Bates and the department have to step in here and do something -- whether that be investing more in the program or, the far opposite extreme, removing its varsity status. The previous administration was far too slow to make a move with the football program despite mounting evidence that a move had to be made. Now Addazio is tasked with a fairly large rebuilding job. BC can't afford to make the same mistake with its floundering baseball program.