BC drops series opener to Abbott, Cavaliers
Virginia struck for seven runs against Emmet Sheehan and the Eagles fell to seven games under .500.
One start after a 15-strikeout performance against Pittsburgh, Boston College right-hander Emmet Sheehan needed just five punchouts to tie the program’s single-season strikeout record.
Instead, he came tumbling back to earth against a white-hot Virginia team. The junior ended an impressive campaign in a disappointing fashion, giving up seven runs—five earned—on 10 hits in five innings as the Eagles dropped the series opener, 7-1.
Sheehan struck out four and walked four as the Cavaliers (26-21, 17-17 ACC) were patient at the plate and came up with timely hits left and right. There was no loud contact against Sheehan, but he was undone by two-out singles and bloopers that fell all throughout the field. Virginia scored four runs with two outs in the first, then tacked on three more in the fifth to hand BC (20-27, 9-22) its fifth loss in its last six games.
It certainly didn’t help the Eagles’ cause that they ran into the conference’s best pitcher at the moment. A start removed from earning ACC Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance in a combined no-hitter, southpaw Andrew Abbott was in complete control. Abbott struck out 11 in 6 2/3 and scattered three hits and three walks. Reliever Kyle Whitten entered and struck out five as well, running the total to 16 on the game—the most BC has had in a single game this season.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Station-to-station: The Cavaliers finished the game with six two-out hits, nine hits with runners on, and an impressive 7-for-13 (.538) mark with runners in scoring position. They only managed a single extra-base hit but were remarkably effective with runners on base and just kept chipping away against Sheehan.
In the first, after two quick outs, the heart of the Virginia order kept grinding away. Brendan Rivoli singled, Devin Ortiz drew a walk, then Kyle Teel dropped a RBI single into center field. Nic Kent dropped a double just within the right field foul line on a ball off the end of his bat to bring two more in, then Chris Newell went the opposite way on a single for another run.
That pushed it to 4-0 and Virginia continued the trend of stringing together base hits in the fifth. After Rivoli and Ortiz singled to open the inning, an impressive inside-out swing on a breaking ball from Teel found its way into left for a RBI single. Kent then capped the scoring with a two-run single that skipped up the middle, the product of beating a shifted and drawn-in infield.
Overpowering stuff: Abbott was all he was advertised and more. The converted reliever capped off an impressive regular season with another outstanding start. He pitched into the seventh and didn’t allow a single runner to move into scoring position. Abbott was effective with baserunners on as he picked one off, erased another with a double play, and at one point—after giving up a leadoff single—struck out the next three batters.
Bounce back: After managing just one run on six hits, the Eagles will need to find the bats that paced them to a series win over Miami or risk seeing out a tough end of the year. Brian Dempsey went 2-for-4 out of the five-spot, but that doesn’t matter when hitters 6-through-9 combined to go 1-for-12. The usual suspects contributed the lone run—Sal Frelick doubled and Cody Morissette brought him in with a single—but the Eagles will need to work more counts and provide some support to the pitching staff. Virginia has a deep and very talented lineup, as evidenced by 15 hits on Thursday, so BC needs to find something early and keep itself in it.
Featured Images Courtesy of BC Athletics / John Quackenbos