Base stealing is a key part of Boston College baseball’s identity.
The Eagles sat atop the ACC leaderboard in base stealing heading into their Saturday matchup against Wake Forest, but they remained hungry for more. So hungry, in fact, that BC was willing to attempt stealing home with the bases loaded.
“I thought it was a good play,” BC baseball head coach Todd Interdonato said. “Looked like we had a chance to do it … Left-hander on the mound that was slow in his wind-up. [Josiah Ragsdale]‘s a good runner, thought it was a good time to take a chance.”
BC’s chance succeeded.
Ragsdale sprinted home safely. He did not get the credit because of a catcher’s interference call, but scored by force since Kyle Wolff was granted first base on the play.
BC (18–20, 8–12 Atlantic Coast) tied the game on the play. It was the start of the Eagles’ seven unanswered runs that led them to a 7–2 win over Wake Forest (26–14, 10–10).
“We try to pick our spots,” Interdonato said. “It was something that we saw on Wake on film. Coming into the weekend, we felt like we were gonna have a chance to run against some of their arms. Some of their pitchers are a little slower to the plate. And fortunately—so far this weekend—we’ve had the right guys on base at the right time in order to take advantage of it.”
Before BC’s four-run fifth inning, JD Ogden entered from the bullpen and got three quick outs, maintaining the Eagles’ two-run deficit.
Ogden played the foil of BC starter Brady Miller, who walked four batters in his three innings, hit one with a pitch, and struggled to get ahead in counts, resulting in him giving up two earned runs during his time on the mound.
Ogden, meanwhile, attacked each hitter and made it to the ninth to close out the game.
“He was just constantly ahead in the count,” Interdonato said. “Throwing his fastball and his slider for a strike, and just seemed like he was in control of every at-bat.”
Ogden’s strong outing culminated in the eighth inning. He fell behind 2–0 to four-hole hitter Luke Costello but stormed back to strike him out on a slider. Then, Ogden struck out the next two batters, both with whiffs on his slider.
“It was kind of funky,” Interdonato said. “I just felt like his fastball and slider were good. I felt like he was close to punching out a few other guys throughout the course of the game. But, I don’t know, it’s kind of weird. It’s just one of those anomalies. I don’t know why he struck out those three in the eighth, because I felt like his stuff was just the same, if not a tick better, in some other innings.”
A baseball scoreboard always reads “runs, hits, errors.” But if a “runs, hits, errors” scoreboard was the only way to contextualize a game, the story of this game could never be told. It was pitching—or rather, walks—that defined this one.
That was especially evident during BC’s seventh-inning rally.
The frame started with free passes for BC, as Wake Forest walked two batters and hit a third before Adam Magpoc earned a bases-loaded walk.
A double play scored another run from Patrick Roche to put BC up 5–2. Then, Vince Cimini lined a single over the leaping second baseman for BC’s only RBI hit of the game.
BC’s four-run rally in the fifth inning, too, was completed thanks to Wake Forest walking in the go-ahead run and then walking the next batter for yet another run.
The Demon Deacons’ pitching staff issued 10 walks in total in a game that saw five different pitchers.
“I looked up at the start of the ninth, and I was just like, ‘Man, this is maybe one of the oddest box scores I’ve seen,’” Interdonato said.
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