Missed opportunities seem to be a common theme for Boston College Baseball’s season so far. In their Sunday afternoon matchup against No. 19 Virginia Tech, it was no different.
NIn the middle of the sixth inning, after battling for limited scoring opportunities up until then, the Eagles finally had the bases loaded and Nick Wang stepping up to the plate.
A strikeout and line out later, the Eagles had gained only one run and stranded two runners on the bases. In the next inning, the Eagles gave up seven runs.
The Eagles (11–11, 2–7 Atlantic Coast) suffered a disastrous seventh inning where they used four different pitchers en route to a 12–6 loss to the Hokies (18–4, 8–1 Atlantic Coast) in Brighton.
The Hokies got after Michael Farinelli early in the first inning. Chris Cannizzaro drove Christian Martin home on an outfield single before Eddie Micheletti hit a sacrifice fly into deep center field, sending Carson DeMartini home and giving the Hokies an early 2–0 lead.
Farinelli bounced back in the second inning, registering a strikeout and no runners on base, while Cameron Leary had a pair of catches deep in center field.
The Eagles were unable to get anything done offensively in the first two innings. Griffin Stieg struck out four and the Eagles stranded two.
DeMartini extended the Hokies lead in the 3rd inning, bombing a homer over the scoreboard in right field to make it 3–0.
The Eagles found their hitting in the third inning, with Sam McNulty and Leary both singling into the outfield before Vince Cimini drove McNulty home on a groundout to the shortstop.
Patrick Roche then popped a ball into short right field, driving Leary home and cutting the score to 3–2.
Evan Moore relieved Farinelli in the middle of the fourth inning with two Hokies on base, and pitched out of the jam, striking out DeMartini to keep the Hokies lead at one.
Despite getting runners on second and third base in the fourth inning, the Eagles couldn’t convert and stranded two as Nick Wang struck out swinging to end the inning.
After hitting Kyle Wolff with a pitch in the fifth, Matthew Siverling replaced Stieg on the mound. Stieg posted six strikeouts and gave up four hits and two runs in 4.1 innings.
Charlie Coon came relieved Evan Moore in the middle of the sixth inning and forced Martin into a groundout to second to close the inning.
John Collins came in to pinch hit after Cam Caraher got on base, and launched a beam down the third base foul line for a stand-up double.
With runners on second and third, McNulty bunted, but it traveled straight to Hokies’ pitcher Brady Kirtner, who threw Caraher out at home.
A few batters later, with the bases loaded, a wild pitch from Kirtner allowed pinch-runner Chris Markovich to get home to tie the game 3–3.
Eric Schroeder replaced Coon on the mound for the Eagles in the middle of the seventh inning. Cannizzaro immediately returned Schroeder’s pitch with a two-run homer over the fence in right field.
After walking two more batters, Coon was pulled and Gavin Hasche became the Eagles fifth pitcher in less than seven innings.
Henry Cooke continued the Hokies’ dominant seventh inning, launching a ball to the warning track in deep center field, driving in two more runs and jogging into third base to bring Virginia Tech’s lead to 7–3.
Jordan Fisse took over on the mound for the Eagles and allowed three more runs off of walks or wild pitches in the seventh inning alone.
The Hokies grabbed two more runs in the eighth before the Eagles grabbed one run back to cut the Hokies lead to eight.
In the bottom of the ninth, Beck Milner and Austin Hartsell hit back-to-back solo home runs to end the game with a 12–6 loss for the Eagles—the team’s fourth straight defeat.
