Beck Milner had his best game, and arguably the best game of any Eagle, this season on Tuesday versus UMass at Fenway Park.
The junior backstop went 4 for 5 with three RBIs and crossed the plate twice, including a home run in the eighth inning that kick-started Boston College baseball’s comeback.
And he picked up right where he left off on Wednesday evening.
After Maine struck first in the top of the second inning, Milner skyed a ball right over the signage on the right-field wall. The home run scored both him and Jack Toomey to give the Eagles an early 2–1 lead.
The Utah native came up big again in the sixth, tying the game up with a single into right field that scored Toomey once again.
“[I] was excited to give him an opportunity last night, just because we felt like this was, you know, trying to get him back in the mix and back in the rotation,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said. “Credit to him for coming out yesterday and just having two monster games.”
Despite his two hits and three RBIs, the Eagles (22–24, 9–15 Atlantic Coast) couldn’t come through in extra innings, falling 5–4 to Maine (19–22, 12–6 America East).
The Black Bears scored their first run off three second-inning singles. Caleb Vacchiano’s knock to right field scored one, but a 6-3 double play the very next batter left the door open for BC to respond quickly.
Milner’s home run did just that, but Maine decided to give the Eagles a taste of their own medicine.
After Jacob Burnham recorded his third strikeout looking to begin the third inning, a single through the right side put the pressure on. Five pitches later, Dean O’Neill smacked one over the left-field wall, stealing the lead right back for Maine.
Maine’s Payton Whitehead would tack on another to lead off the fourth inning, rocketing a home run over the center-field wall for the two-run cushion.
Burnham retired the side after that solo shot, though. The freshman would have his longest outing of the season, including a season-high five strikeouts.
“I thought he executed really well,” Interdonato said. “And it felt like when he made a couple mistakes over the middle of the plate, they got him.”
Patrick Roche would cut Maine’s lead in half in the bottom of the fifth, sending Sam McNulty across home on a sacrifice fly after he reached third from his single and Colin Larson’s double.
After Milner’s game-tying single, the seventh and eighth innings stayed quiet for both teams. Karl Meyer, John Kwiatkowski, and Joey Ryan combined for five innings of scoreless ball and five strikeouts.
And there stood Milner on the on-deck circle as the bottom of the ninth kicked off, all tied at four.
Although he advanced Vince Cimini to third on a sacrifice fly, Maine’s Sebastian Holt recorded both of the necessary outs to send the game to extra innings.
The Black Bear offense built off that momentum, immediately capitalizing in the 10th inning. After Vacchiano was hit by a pitch, he advanced to second on a groundout and snagged third base off a wild pitch. Aidan Bardi delivered the go-ahead RBI single two pitches later to give Maine the 5–4 lead.
The Eagles simply couldn’t execute when it mattered and had a three-up, three-down inning to end the game.
“That game was really important, and it sucks that it got away from us,” Interdonato said.
