Eagles fall to Blue Devils

In a game rescheduled from March 20, the baseball team played host to one of the hottest teams in New England, the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, on Tuesday afternoon. Winners of seven of its last 10, the top team in the latest NEIBA New England Coaches Poll has been successful this season mostly because of its strong starting rotation, which came into the BC contest with a NEC-leading earned run average of 3.34. It was the Blue Devil bats, however, that made the difference early and often in a 13-6 defeat of the Eagles on a blustery, cold day at Shea Field. It was BC's fifth loss in a row and its ninth in the last 10 games.

"We're struggling a little bit right now, kind of scuffling along. Hopefully, one of these things we can get it turned around, start feeling a little better about ourselves," said BC head coach Mikio Aoki. The Eagles had run into recent problems early on in games heading into the contest, facing an 8-0 deficit after three innings of its series finale with North Carolina on Sunday and a 5-0 deficit after three innings against UMass on Monday.

Tuesday, Boston College freshman starter Michael Belfiore ran into trouble in the first few innings against the Blue Devils. After retiring the first batter he faced, Belfiore gave up a solo home run to Sean Salvatore, then yielded five consecutive singles before getting the last two outs, giving CCSU an early 3-0 lead.

After the Eagles went quietly in the bottom half of the inning, Belfiore gave up four consecutive hits - two singles, a double, and another single - as CCSU increased its lead to 5-0 in the second inning before the BC starter was pulled with the bases loaded. Right-handed reliever James MacDonald balked home a run to make it 6-0, and later in the inning, he allowed another when right fielder Jeff Schomaker could not handle a Garrett Walker fly ball, making it 7-0 before the Eagles escaped the second inning.

"We're a team that, offensively, we've been struggling for the better part of two or three weeks now. To be constantly chasing runs - it doesn't matter whether it's seven runs or three runs - right now, it's a real struggle for us," said Aoki.

The Eagles mounted a rally in the bottom half of the second inning, loading the bases with nobody out.

They paid a price, however, for their rally. After Jared McGuire singled down the left field line and Peter Frates walked, Joe Ayers was hit in the jaw with a fastball by CCSU starter Adam Piechowski.

Ayers was on his back for several minutes before being helped off the field by his teammates and then removed from the game to receive medical attention.

BC slugger Jett Ruiz, who, like many of his teammates, has struggled to get on track this season, grounded into a double play, plating a run but ending any thoughts of a big inning. Piechowski then struck out Ryan Hutchinson to end the inning, leaving the score at 7-2.

With the score at 10-2 going into the eighth inning, the Eagles scored four runs to cut the CCSU lead to 10-6, but thoughts of a BC comeback were quelled as the Blue Devils rattled off three runs in the top half of the ninth inning to make it 13-6. n