Baseball Splits With Florida International

Boston College's pitching woes took center stage once again Wednesday night when the Eagles' staff failed to provide any consistency in an 18-14 loss on the road to the Florida International University Golden Panthers.

The loss dropped the Eagles (5-6) below .500 and mercifully ended 3 hours and 40 minutes after it started. Starter Andrew Del Colle was pulled in the second inning after giving up four runs on three hits. Relievers Chris Kowalski, Dave Laufer, Kyle Prohovich, and Nate Bayuk did everything but provide batting tees for the opposition, as they combined for 14 runs and 14 hits over 5.2 innings.

The Eagles pitching staff came into the game with an ERA of 7.21 and didn't help their cause with Wednesday night's outing. Outside of Pat Dean, the Eagles have struggled to find a dependable starter who can provide solid innings and put the Eagles in a position to win without needing to score over 10 runs. Del Colle had only appeared in two other games before this with an ERA of 54, but he couldn't turn his struggles around in his latest outing.

The Eagles bats tried to bail out their pitchers with 14 runs on 15 hits and strong efforts from Mickey Wiswall and John Spatola, but unfortunately, even that proved to be futile. Wiswall continued to be an RBI machine with two more on Wednesday, giving him 21 on the season. Spatola added three hits and three RBIs to bolster his batting average even further above .400.

The Eagles tied the game at 14 thanks to a six-run seventh inning, but immediately handed back the lead to the Golden Panthers in the bottom of the inning. Alberto Cardenas ended up earning the win for FIU despite giving up three runs during the Eagles' seventh-inning rally.

On Tuesday evening, BC came through when it counted, recording all 11 of its runs with two outs in an 11-5 victory over FIU. FIU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning before the Eagles evened it up in the top of the third. Matt Watson opened the inning with a single up the middle, and then Mike Sudol moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Robbie Anston doubled Watson in with a shot to left-center. Matt Hamlet drew the Eagles even with a single that soared just beyond the reach of the diving second baseman.

BC busted the game open with five runs in the fifth. The Eagles had runners on the corners when Hamlet singled to left. Wiswall then smacked a three-run homer, his third of the year.

The following inning, the Eagles tacked three insurance runs on the board to put the game out of reach for Florida International. The strong offensive performance was backed up by a strong outing from senior Dane Clemens. He surrendered only three hits and two runs over six innings, allowing the Eagles to build a comfortable lead. Hunter Gordon and Taylor Lasko closed out the game for Clemens, securing his first win of his career.

Hamlet and Wiswall paced the offense all afternoon as they each recorded three hits, four RBIs, and two earned runs. The Eagles recorded 18 hits on the afternoon, with every starter contributing at least one.

BC will start a weekend series against the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., on Friday. Miami will provide a tough test for the Eagles as they come in at 8-3 and ranked No. 13 in the nation. After winning their first two games, the Eagles have lost six of their past nine.