Coming off of a midweek loss to Umass Lowell on Tuesday, Boston College baseball looked to get its season back on track when they hosted Louisville in a three-game series at Harrington Athletics Village.
But the visitors controlled the series between the Eagles (21–25, 8–19 Atlantic Coast) and the Cardinals (29–18, 13–11), and they ultimately won the series handily with a sweep.
Saturday’s series finale was the tightest game between the two squads, with the Cardinals gutting out a 5–3 win.
Michael Farinelli got the start in the game for the Eagles and started off by dealing six scoreless innings. Farinelli threw just 54 pitches in those six innings, making quick work of the Cardinal’s order.
“I thought it was really good,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said about Farinelli’s outing. “We thought he was a really good matchup for them, and he pitched deep into the game, which gave us a chance.”
The Eagles opened the scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning when a single from Nick Wang made its way through the left side of the infield scoring Barry Walsh. BC failed to do any further damage, though, stranding Wang and Cameron Leary in scoring position after Kyle Wolff flew out to right field.
Farinelli quickly ran into trouble in the top of the seventh, conceding two runs before being pulled. An RBI single from Louisville’s Matt Klein gave the Cardinals a 2–1 lead and chased Farinelli out of the game at 74 pitches thrown. Eric Schroeder came in to spell Farinelli and immediately recorded two outs to end the frame.
Schroeder returned to the mound after the Eagles went down in order in the bottom of the seventh inning. This time, he did not have as much success. Schroeder allowed three Louisville runs after RBIs off of a single and double from Lucas Moore and Ryan McCoy, respectively. Schroeder eventually worked his way out of the inning after forcing a groundout, but the damage was done with the Cardinals leading 5–1.
Sam McNulty logged a double in the bottom of the eighth inning but did not receive further run support.
Evan Moore came in the top of the ninth frame for BC and pitched a scoreless inning to keep the Eagles within striking distance.
BC fought back in the bottom of the ninth, scoring two runs on a Vince Cimini sacrifice fly and a Beck Milner single. This allowed the Eagles to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs. They were unable to capitalize, though, as John Collins hit a ground ball to shortstop who tossed it to second to end the game.
Friday’s game between the two squads was a low-scoring affair. The Eagles were shut out, losing 3–0.
Ryan McCoy got the Cardinals started in the second inning with an RBI single to center field, before two RBIs from Isaac Humphrey in the sixth and eighth innings gave Louisville their 3–0 lead.
The Eagles only scored three runs over the series’ last two games.
“We just need to hit more balls hard,” Interdonato said. “I feel like our at-bats were good. We just need to do it more consistently.”
The opening game of the series was quite the opposite. Louisville held an 8–0 lead in the sixth inning. A seven-run seventh inning, which was capped off by a Cameron Leary grand slam, brought the Eagles back within one run, though. The Cardinals then responded with four unanswered runs in the eighth inning to end the Eagles hopes of a comeback.
“We’re in a tough stretch, which I feel like everybody goes through, but our guys have stuck together,” Interdonato said. “They’ve prepared very well. I feel like they are as focused as we’ve been all year.”
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