Sometimes you can’t even execute weak contact properly. That’s what happened when Sam McNulty laid down a ninth-inning squeeze bunt in Boston College baseball’s Sunday-evening series finale against Pittsburgh.
McNulty tapped the ball right back toward the pitcher’s mound and just beyond the fringe of the batter’s circle turf, leaving an easy line toward the ball for pitcher Daniel McAuliff.
Adam Magpoc, BC’s runner on third, beat Pittsburgh out of the blocks, though, saving the play with a 90-foot dash through home plate.
“You got to give Adam a ton of credit,” BC baseball head coach Todd Interdonato said. “That was not a great bunt. His down-angle and read … being able to score was great.”
Magpoc sped home to beat the underhand flip by a hair and secured BC (13–12, 5–7 Atlantic Coast) a series-clinching 3–2 win over Pittsburgh (16–11, 3–6).
That element of speed has also allowed BC to get an extra 90 feet on its hit-and-run just a batter before, when Gavin Johnson hit a single through the left side and Magpoc made a break for third all the way from first.
“The hit-and-run before [that] was probably riskier … and Adam being able to go first-to-third on a ground ball to left, which is hard to do,” Interdonato said.
BC needed every base they could take as Drew Lafferty quieted the Eagles’ bats for the first six innings. One strikeout was all Lafferty needed to do so, though, as the rest of the outs were earned by inducing soft contact.
“What [Lafferty] was getting well was a lot of weak contact with no strikes,” Interdonato said. “It’s just because of that two-seamer he’s got—just really runs off your barrel.”
Lafferty’s success was flipped on its head when Patrick Roche began the seventh inning by clobbering a single to left field, and Jack Toomey followed with a walk. The single was the loudest contact for BC all game, and the walk gave BC its first runner in scoring position.
BC finally compiled a string of offensive success after a fielder’s choice scored Toomey, and an RBI single from Esteban Garcia tied the game 2–2.
Kyle Kipp entered the game in the fifth and made it a pitcher’s duel as he retired the first 10 batters he faced and notched five scoreless innings.
“That was the same thing we did at UConn on Tuesday—we started Brady [Miller] and then we went Kipp,” Interdonato said. “Those guys coming back on four days of rest, you know, just an amazing performance out of Kyle.”
Pittsburgh led off its lone inning of scoring with a home run in the top of the third and proceeded to reap the rewards of its contact. Roche dropped an infield chopper, and McNulty bobbled a grounder to allow two free base runners. An infield hit to McNulty then loaded the bases.
A walk drove a runner in, but McNulty redeemed himself with a diving grab that led to a double play for BC.
“We didn’t handle a couple ground balls,” Interdonato said. “And then I thought Sam [McNulty] actually made a great play on the sliding one to keep it in. You get a day like this, man, it’s real-feel of 35 [degrees], the wind’s blowing in. Days like today in this ballpark are just hard to score.”
Six strikeouts from Kipp alleviated some of the pressure on the defense, though, and the Eagles’ offense late in the game was just enough for them to walk away with a win.
“If you play good defense and throw strikes, you got a chance to keep them off the board,” Interdonato said. “That’s what we did with Kipp. Once Kipp came into the game, Kipp was just flooding the strike zone.”
