Eagles blow nine-run lead, drop weekend series to No. 6 Notre Dame

The phases of a bullpen meltdown were on full display on Saturday night as BC gave up 12 runs in the eighth inning to lose, 13-9.

After a narrow loss to No. 6 Notre Dame in the first game of the doubleheader, it might’ve been expected to see Boston College come out slow in the nightcap. Instead, behind a brilliant pitching performance from Alex Stiegler and a relentless lineup, the Eagles led 9-1 through seven innings.

Stiegler had pitched effectively to contact, scattering one run on three hits without issuing a walk. The BC lineup had gotten contributions from nearly everyone, as Dante Baldelli had pair of two-run singles, Daniel Baruch had a two-run double, and Brian Dempsey and Cody Morissette had both driven in runs as well.

Then, just like that, the good feelings of a monumental series victory over a top-10 rival vanished. BC’s bullpen—featuring four different pitchers—melted down in the eighth, facing 17 batters and allowing 12 runs as the Irish came all the way back to hand the Eagles a heartbreaking, yet familiar, 13-9 defeat.

“You kind of have that setup, Stiegler had a great start and you go to Joey Walsh for two to finish it up,” Mike Gambino said. “Honestly, there wasn’t even much to say after an inning like that.

“How do you talk about an inning like that? We got to throw more strikes and execute our pitches and we didn’t do any of that stuff.”

It was an all too familiar sight for the Eagles (16-21, 6-18 Atlantic Coast), who have lived and died with their bullpen this season. BC has given up multiple big late innings and lost winnable conference games frequently, but Saturday’s was arguably the most devastating. Coming into that eighth inning, the Irish (20-8, 18-8) had been outscored on the weekend by a margin of 21-6, but still managed to take the weekend series.

When watching that fateful eighth inning, I was reminded of a piece by Connor Farrell over at The Purple Row called “The phases of a bullpen meltdown.” One of the opening paragraphs is particularly applicable to the experience of watching Boston College baseball this season:

Bullpen meltdowns are an emotional experience that is unknown to any other sport. The slow buildup to a devastating outcome isn't in other sports. They move too quickly, and your emotions aren't involved until the play is over, but in a bullpen meltdown they're constantly there. The entire time your brain is destroying itself as you reason with emotions and pessimism. Meanwhile, you have to keep watching every pitch to see if, by the grace of whatever deity you're praying to, this team can avoid looking like freaking idiots and win a damn game.

Here’s how that 17-batter, 12-run, hour-long half inning went down. The lead was erased in stages with the Eagles coming so close to getting out of the inning time and time again.

Phase One: The First Sliver of Doubt

It’s 9-1. Joey Walsh is on in relief of Stiegler, who spun seven innings of one-run ball and is in line for the win. The weekend has shaped up well as the Eagles got a through win on Friday and dropped a narrow game earlier on Saturday but are in line for a crucial series victory.

Notre Dame’s Niko Kavadas takes the second pitch he sees from Walsh and clubs a solo home run to right field. It’s a seven-run game.

Walsh quickly gives up a hard-hit single and hits a batter, but gets a strikeout. All he needs is a grounder for a double play and the inning’s over. He’s even a strike away from a second strikeout in a row, but instead, he misses a pitch up and Zack Prajzner makes him pay. It’s a three-run shot to left and suddenly it’s a four-run game.

Phase Two: The Coming Storm

Four runs is still comfortable enough, but the storm clouds are gathering. You can almost feel the tension in the air and the momentum has definitely shifted. Walsh gets a groundout for the second out, but then walks Kyle Hess on four pitches. Hess steals second. Walsh gets another groundball, but Cody Morissette’s throw to first is a little high and Jack Cunningham can’t hang on to it as he tries to make a sweeping tag. The ball kicks past and another run comes across.

It’s a three-run game and the doubt is creeping in.

Phase Three: Reasoning

Surely Walsh can bear down, the average BC fan thinks. He’s one out away from ending the inning and maybe the Eagles can get a few insurance runs back in the home half. Walsh is usually the go-to guy, he’s closed out many games. There’s action in the bullpen, there has been since the second home run, but this is his inning.

Then he plunks a batter on an 0-2 pitch to bring the tying run to the plate. Out comes Gambino, he takes the ball from his most trusted reliever, and hands it to a true freshman in Charlie Coon.

Phase Four: Detachment From Reality

It’s unraveling. Coon, in one of the biggest spots he’s been in all year, can’t find the strike zone. He walks Kavadas to load the bases. He walks in a run, then another, and that’s it. It’s a one-run game and out comes Gambino again. Coon threw 16 pitches, 12 were balls.

Out trots Joey Ryan. There’s an out at every base and BC still has the lead, but it surely doesn’t feel like that.

Phase Five: Acceptance

Ryan gets a chopped ball too short but Dempsey tries to run to the bag at second—only to realize he won’t get there in time—and makes a late throw to first. Everybody is safe, and the Irish lead.

It’s a familiar script, you might be thinking. Another late-inning loss. There’s still some tiny semblance of hope, though. A one-run deficit heading into the bottom of the eighth isn’t an automatic loss. There’s a chance.

Phase Six: The Crushing Weight of Despair and the Overwhelming Pit of Knowing

Ryan hits the next batter, then Notre Dame’s Brannigan pulls off a steal of home. He caught the Eagles sleeping and Ryan caught him out of the corner of his eye and rushed a pitch home and it kicked off catcher Peter Burns’ glove.

Ryan walks Juaire to re-load the bases. Then Hess, up again, clubs a ground-rule, two-run double that one-hops the fence in right. It’s a four-run game now, and Gambino walking out for the third time that inning doesn’t even seem to register. Max Gieg quietly gets the last out, but the game seems over in your head. The next three half-innings fly by in less time then it took for that half-inning debacle to play out. Game over, series loss, 12 games under .500 in conference play.

“My message was that we all need to regroup and we’ll talk on Tuesday,” Gambino said after. “The way we all feel right now, we don’t want to rehash anything. We talk all year about staying together no matter what, so I said we’re going to stay together and regroup.”

Featured Images/GIFS courtesy of ACC Network Extra.