A winning baseball team requires many things. The essentials include bats, balls, a minimum of nine able bodies and, often, a modicum of skill. But a baseball team also requires rest. Rest, even a few days here or there, provides a little down time for the overworked arms of pitchers, some recuperation for the bumps and bruises that inevitably accumulate over the course of a season. Since baseball is such an intensely intellectual game, rest also provides a little time for players to unwind.
A week of rest did a world of good for the Boston College Eagles this past week. After a frenetic schedule which saw Coach Hughes’ team play 18 games in 25 days, the squad earned a much-needed sabbatical from diamond competition. The Eagles, after dropping a three-game series to Big East foe Rutgers last weekend, bounced back by returning the favor to the Wildcats of Villanova on Saturday and Sunday. The trip helped BC up their conference record to an even 4-4, and improved to 15-9 overall.
After two close games the day before, the Eagles saw no reason to change the pattern in the third game, and pulled out the 7-6 victory in the top of the ninth. Junior Mike Stuart pitched one and a third innings in relief, picking up the victory, thanks to his teammates’ last minute heroics.
Eric “Don’t Call Me Erik” Olson batted 1.000 on the day, including a three-run dinger in the fifth. Olson’s 3-for-3 performance netted four RBIs. But it was sophomore Neal McCarthy who donned the hero’s cape in this one; McCarthy sent second baseman Mike Quirk scooting home with the go-ahead run by roping a two-out triple in the ninth. Quirk set the table for McCarthy by leading off the inning with a double, but looked as if he might be stranded on second until McCarthy geared up and put the Eagles ahead for good.
The series’ second game gave the visitors a triumph of the comeback variety. Frosh chucker Matt Elfedt earned his second collegiate win with only one inning of service.
Highly-touted senior hurler Steve Langone, who picked up another save in the first game, swept up out of the bullpen for Hughes, holding off a ’Nova rally. Junior slugger Jarett Mendoza bopped a double, driving in two runs and putting BC up by a score of 6-5. Durkin’s two-run base hit proved to be vital, as the Eagles escaped with an 8-7 victory.
The Maroon and Gold offense was potent in the middle game, exploding for 19 hits.
Junior pitcher Erik “Don’t Call Me Eric” Olson started the first game for the Eagles, throwing for four innings and allowing three runs, keeping BC in the game. But it was Olson’s classmate, Mike Stuart, who was the pitcher of record. Stuart blanked the home team for two innings, setting the stage for sophomore outfielder Brian Durkin to drive home the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning.
Providing the fireworks earlier in the game was Jeff Mackor, who stroked a two-run dinger in the fifth. Langone picked up the save, bageling the Wildcats to seal the 5-3 win for the visitors, and recording the first of his two saves.
The weekend of redemption largely cancelled out the damage done by the previous weekend’s triple-bummer performance at Rutgers. Proving they can win Big East games on the road should do wonders for BC’s confidence, and give them a good head of steam coming into this week. Another nice little factoid is that the Eagles are 11 victories short of last year’s season total, with 31 games still to play. Granted, Coach Hughes has packed the schedule a little more tightly this year, but such a stat has to be encouraging.
This week, BC will face Northeastern, Brown (Thursday at home at 2 p.m.), Notre Dame (three times) and Albany (twice). That’s seven games in the same number of days.
No rest for the weary.
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