In a release from the Boston College athletics department, the Birdball baseball team tabbed Tom Bourdon, John Hennessy, and Eric Stevens as its captains for the 2014 season. All are seniors entering their final year for the Eagles, who are looking to rebound from dismal campaigns and a bottomed-out 2013.
Bourdon, who captained the team last year, has been a stalwart for the maroon and gold. In 139 games and 135 starts, he is hitting at a .288 clip with 61 RBIs. He played in 35 games last year before losing the end of his year to an injury, and he spent the season rehabbing with the Lexington Blue Sox of the Intercity League in Massachusetts. He's been at the top of BC's offensive categories since joining the team, hitting .289 as a freshman with six steals. Two years ago, he led BC with a .324 batting average and .529 slugging percentage, and both All-ACC (second team) and ABCA All-Northeast Region (first team) selections. Assuming he can bounce back from injury without incident, Bourdon will be the centerpiece of the BC lineup.
Hennessy is a grinder of a player, having appeared in 104 games but making only 88 starts. He hit a pedestrian .249 last season, but he had a team-high 11 multiple-hit games. This past summer, he played in 43 games for the North Shore Navigators of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, hitting .254 with 20 runs scored. He had an almost 1:1 walks to strikeout ratio at the dish, and he established himself as a pull hitter who sprayed to center and right fields.
Stevens is the lone pitcher in the group, and he's the best returnee among a staff that was absolutely atrocious the last couple of years. Stevens struggled through 2013, going 0-12 with a 6.31 ERA. But he established himself as an innings eater, throwing a staff-high 71.1 IP. Opponents hit .363 against him last season with 40 more hits than the next best starter. He allowed a team high 50 earned runs and he hit a team-high nine batters. But he led the team with 27 appearances as a a freshman and sported a 2-1 record. In 2012, he appeared in nine games (five starts) for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League.
BC opens the season on Valentine's Day when they play Nevada in Santa Clara, California. They will be on the road for the first month of the season - 18 games not including the annual exhibition with the World Champion Boston Red Sox.