BC Wins In Pitchers' Duel

On Tuesday afternoon, the Boston College baseball team traveled down to Dodd Stadium in Connecticut for a midweek matchup with the St. John’s Red Storm. The Eagles prevailed in a 2-1 pitchers’ duel, earning their first midweek win since they defeated Connecticut on April 3. Freshman pitcher Eric Stone recorded the first win of his career as the Eagles raised their record to 16-25.

The game was scoreless in the first two innings, as BC squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the first. Tom Bourdon reached on a bunt single with two outs, and Anthony Melchionda promptly walked. The Eagles were then gifted a great chance to score when Rob Moir reached on an error. But Marc Perdios, fresh off a five-for-nine performance in the previous weekends’ series against NC State, flied out to left field to end the inning.

The Red Storm were the first to get on the board in the top of the third. Jimmy Brennan reached on a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Brennan then came around to score on leadoff hitter Kyle Richardson’s double. BC starting pitcher Eric Stevens managed to stay out of further trouble, stranding runners on first and third by getting cleanup hitter Frank Schwindel to ground out to shortstop.

St. John’s didn’t have the lead for long, though, as the Eagles answered in the bottom of the inning. Blake Butera walked and stole second with one out and Bourdon at the plate. The sophomore centerfielder then roped a single to center, scoring Butera. The Eagles could not muster any more runs, however, as the fourth and fifth hitters, Melchionda and Moir, each flew out to the outfield.

Stone replaced Stevens in the fourth, who finished with a line of three innings, one hit, two walks, and one strikeout. Stone proceeded to throw four shutout innings while allowing only one hit. That and a hit batter were the only base runners to reach in Stone’s four innings of work.

In the bottom of the sixth after Stone’s third inning of relief, the Eagles’ offense came through once again. Perdios continued his hot hitting with a one-out single, and fellow senior Spenser Payne followed by getting hit by a pitch. Matt Pare then drew a four-pitch walk, loading the bases for Travis Ferrick and prompting a pitching change for the Storm. Yet it didn’t work, as Ferrick drove in BC’s second run of the game on a fielder’s choice to first base.

Although the Eagles didn’t score for the rest of the game and only had six hits on the day, that’s all they needed. BC’s eighth and ninth-inning combination of Kyle Prohovich and Matt Brazis was dominant on the mound, allowing one hit en route to two scoreless innings. By the time Brazis closed out the 2-1 victory, the Eagles had only allowed three hits on the day, striking out six Red Storm batters in the process.

After losing two out of three to NC State while giving up 35 runs, BC looked much better in this 2-1 midweek victory against St. John’s. They’ll need to continue their strong pitching this weekend when facing Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons have scored the fourth-most runs in the ACC, including 35 home runs, which is good for second-most in the league. As a team that’s last in the ACC with a 5.41 ERA, the Eagles’ pitching has been a detriment to their success all year. For one day this week, however, it’s what won them the game.