Eagles Win Baseball Beanpot

A championship in the Beanpot helped propel the Boston College men's hockey team toward a national championship.

Though a title may be a stretch for the Eagles on the baseball diamond, a 9-3 victory over Northeastern in the Beanpot final could be the boost BC needs to make its way toward a postseason berth.

Sitting at 9-9 in ACC play, BC is one of the last teams currently in the ACC tournament – only eight of the 12 schools in the league qualify – and needs a late-season run to feel good about its chances for the NCAAs.

The Beanpot doesn't contribute to conference win totals, keeping most of the Eagles' top arms on the bench, but adding a little bit of hardware could boost confidence.

Some of the weekend starters in the field helped BC lock up the title. Anthony Melchionda and Mickey Wiswall launched three-run homers in back-to-back innings to blow the game wide open.
Wiswall's blast in the top of the fourth put the Eagles up 9-3, and both teams put up zeros the rest of the way out.

Northeastern was spotted an early 1-0 lead by Dane Clemens after the Huskies' Frank Compagnone tripled home a run in the bottom of the opening frame.

BC wasted no time in tying the game up, though, with an Andrew Lawrence triple plating freshman Matt Watson in the second. Just one inning later, Melchionda gave the Eagles all the runs they needed with his fourth homer of the year.

Despite going down early, the Eagles – throwing out a total of five pitchers, none for more than two innings – managed keep the Huskies at bay.

After relieving Clemens to start the third, Dave Laufer got off to a rocky start. The junior right-hander walked the first batter he faced on four pitches before giving up a two-run jack to Matt Miller and a single to Adam Pastyrnak.

Laufer settled down after that, sending the next three hitters down swinging on his way to five strikeouts in his two innings of work.

Hunter Gordon, Kevin Moran, and Taylor Lasko closed out the contest, and only Moran wavered. Moran, who has allowed opposing batters to hit .343 against him this season, allowed two hits and a pair of walks in his two innings of work.

After loading the bases in the sixth, the junior forced John Puttress to ground into a fielder's choice to get BC out of the jam.