Late Inning Mistakes By Eagles Lead to Series Sweep by Cardinals
Boston College came into Sunday’s matchup with Louisville looking to wake up the bats and grab a win before a long homestand, but fell to the Cardinals 8-6.
In the first inning, the Eagles bats started to heat up.. Leadoff shortstop Brain Dempsey got BC started with a base knock and soon after Sal Frelick added another on a well executed hit and run. Three hole hitter Luke Gold added to his team best 18 RBIs prior to Sunday’s contest with a sac fly that brought Dempsey home and moved Frelick to third, after he had advanced on a wild pitch. Graduate senior Jack Cunningham returned to the lineup and immediately made an impact. Cunningham singled following Gold’s sacrifice, and the Eagles quickly jumped out a 2-0 lead. Louisville starter Luke Smith, known for his animated ways, got the next two outs to avoid any further damage. The Cardinals senior was 3-0 last year in a shortened season, but was coming off a tough outing last weekend against Georgia Tech that saw 4 earned runs in less than three innings of work.
For the Eagles, freshman Joe Vetrano made his fifth appearance of the season opening for right hander Alex Stiegler. Vetrano had his best outing since the first week of the season tossing two scoreless frames. Vetrano overcame an error and single in the second inning to hold the Eagles lead intact, which had grown in the top half. Two singles by Vince Cimini, who once again started in place of Cody Morissette, and Dante Baldelli put runners on first and second with 1 out. Smith retired the next hitter and it appeared that he would get out of the inning when Frelick rolled over to shortstop. Cardinal freshman Christian Knapczyk fielded the routine ground ball, but made his third error of the season on the throw. His mistake allowed for BC to add two more runs to increase their advantage to 4-0.
The Eagles threatened to increase the distance in the top half of the third, loading the bases with 2 outs, but Smith got Dante Baldelli to ground out to escape any danger. Louisville rode the momentum with a leadoff single in the bottom of the third by leadoff Cooper Bowman. Bowman was a tough out yesterday, going 2-3 with a homerun. Junior Luke Brown reached on a fielder's choice, but got thrown out trying to swipe yet another bag for the second out. That proved to be crucial when sophomore catcher Henry Davis launched his 4th home run of the season to put the Cardinals on the board. Stiegler got cleanup Alex Binelas to go down looking to end the frame.
Both teams went quietly in the fourth with Louisville bringing in left hander Garett Schmeltz to relieve Smith after three innings of work. The Eagles went down in order in the top half of the fifth after freshman Cameron Leary reached on a hit by pitch, but was caught down trying to steal. It appeared BC would have a 1-2-3 inning of their own after Stiegler got two quick outs, but the top of the Cardinals order brought trouble. Louisville put together four straight hits off the graduate senior with Cooper Bowman once again giving the Boston College pitching staff fits. Bowman doubled down the line and the next three Cardinals also produced hits. Binelas ultimately tied the game with a double of his own on the first pitch of his at bat making the score 4-4 after five.
Both teams threatened in the sixth with the Eagles leaving two on despite hot sluggers Sal Frelick and Luke Gold coming to the plate. Louisville freshman Jack Payton smacked a two out double, appearing in his first game of the series, off new Eagle pitcher Max Gieg. However, Gieg was able to escape the damage one batter later. Once again the Eagles put ducks on the pond in the seventh, and this time they capitalized. Vince Cimini took advantage of his opportunity and delivered a double down the right field line to drive home two. The Eagles took a 6-4 lead, but it would be short lived.
After stranding one runner in the seventh, the Cardinals came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth still trailing 6-4. Max Gieg remained in the game for the Eagles and quickly ran into trouble. Gieg allowed a leadoff single and hit the second man to step in the box to put runners on first and second. After picking up the first out, Gieg made an error on a sacrifice bunt allowing Louisville to pull within one. The next batter, Christian Knapczyk made up for an earlier error himself, and put the Cardinals on tip 7-6. That ended the day for Gieg and left hander Joey Walsh came in for his second appearance in two days. Walsh committed another error, allowing Louisville to increase their advantage to 8-6, and that’s where it stayed the rest of the day. Louisville closer Kaleb Corbett shut the Eagles down for the second straight day and just like that, the Cardinals had swept BC.
Up next for the Eagles will be two mid-week games with Merrimack and Holy Cross respectively. In conference, the Eagles will host North Carolina for a weekend series hoping to get the mojo back with a series win., The Eagles now sit at 9-5 and 2-4 in conference play. The Tar Heels will come in fresh off a sweep of Clemson this past weekend and will ride high into the Harrington Athletics Village at 10-4 and 6-3 in ACC play.