Birdball Drops Two of Three to Wake

Boston College dropped the third game of its series with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday afternoon, 8-0, in a game played at Bryant University's Conaty Park.  The loss drops BC to 1-8 in ACC play while making them seven games under .500 on the season.

Jeff Burke lasted just 4.1 innings and gave up five runs as Wake Forest provided BC with their first shutout loss of the year.  He walked five and only struck out one as he dropped to 0-2 on the season.  John Nicklas gave up two runs in relief, and Nick Poore was charged with one run in the eighth inning as BC pitching had its worst outing of the season.

The Eagles mustered just four hits against Wake pitching, including one from pinch hitter Michael Strem, normally a pitcher.  BC left eight more men on base, continuing their trend of failing to score with runners on base.  It was the first time BC was shut out since losing in May of last year to Virginia Tech in a 12-inning, 1-0 loss.

After two scoreless innings, the Deacs jumped on the board in the third inning when Burke walked the first four batters of the frame.  Then Charlie Morgan hit a line drive to center that drew outfielder Tom Bourdon on a seed after it.  Bourdon dove and caught the ball, but the impact against the turf dislodged the pelota.  Bourdon would get a force out at second after the runners tagged up, but the runner from third scored to make it 2-0.  Burke induced a groundball to get out of the jam.

In the fourth, Conor Keniry walked to lead off the top half, then stole second.  He advanced to third when Will Craig, the next batter, flew out to Bourdon, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Nate Mondou.  On the inning, Wake Forest had one run, but they didn't draw a hit and didn't leave anyone on as BC didn't record an error, the rare 1-0-0-0 frame.

The game blew open in the fifth off a two-RBI double by Matt Conway, increasing the Wake lead to 5-0, and the Deacs added two more in the eighth and one more in the ninth to complete the blowout.

On the hill, Wake Forest starter Connor Kaden threw seven innings, allowing just three hits and picking up the win to improve his record to 2-2 on the season.  Kaden struck out two and walked just one while facing just five over the minimum.  John McCarren threw two-thirds of an inning in the eighth before turning the game over to Max Tishman.  Tishman struck out three over his four outs to end the game.

Boston College returns to the diamond on Tuesday when they host Northeastern for a 3 PM start.  That leads into a weekend series with Florida State.  All games are scheduled for Shea Field, but a midweek snow forecast could force more postponements and rescheduling.