Eagles' close out season with 8-6 win over Virginia
Sal Frelick and Cody Morissette combined for four hits and six RBIs as BC finished the year with a victory.
The 2021 season ended much earlier than Boston College would have preferred.
It ended with a 8-6 victory over Virginia on Saturday afternoon at the Harrington Athletics Village. If you watched the game, though, you’d likely be surprised that the team had already been eliminated from postseason contention for over a week, had lost six of seven, and had been outscored 16-3 by the Cavaliers over the first two games of the weekend series.
The Eagles didn’t show any signs of quitting or going through the motions in the weekend finale. Instead, you saw the reasons expectations were so sky-high for BC heading into the campaign. Paced by the duo of Sal Frelick and Cody Morissette—both potential first-round pick in July’s draft—and a gritty performance from the pitching staff, the Eagles erased two deficits and fended off a resilient Cavaliers team.
Of course, the win was also a reminder of what could have been. BC was more than up to par with a Virginia side that went 14-7 in its final seven conference weekends. The Eagles got contributions from up and down its lineup, six gutsy innings from Alex Stiegler, and a vintage three-inning save from tenured reliever Joey Walsh. It was a hard-fought, back-and-forth ballgame that was punctuated by a go-ahead, two-run home run from Morissette in the fifth.
Instead of following the Cavaliers to Charlotte for next week’s ACC Championship, though, the Eagles will see the core of their team head separate ways and are left to grapple with the fact that they finished seven games under .500 and managed just 10 ACC wins.
Frelick was understandably emotional in the postgame high-five line, giving each and every player a hug. Walsh was too, as they all lingered and embraced after finishing the final chapter of their respective BC careers. Frelick. Morissette. Walsh. Brian Dempsey. Jack Cunningham. Dante Baldelli. So many players are departing that have spent years in the lineup or on the mound and seen a new ballpark and facility take form over their time on the Heights. It’s a heavy pill for head coach Mike Gambino and the Eagles to swallow. At least, as a silver lining, BC was able to close the books on a plethora of long-time contributors with a win.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Stiegler’s gutsy start: Much like Emmet Sheehan and Mason Pelio the two previous games, Stiegler didn’t get off to a great start. Zack Gelof, Kyle Teel, and Nic Kent all hit doubles as part of a three-run first inning. It was an early 3-0 deficit for the Eagles and had the potential to get worse in a similar fashion to the first two games of the series, but Stiegler settled in.
Save for a solo home run from Kent—who had a monster weekend—in the fourth, Stiegler worked out of jams and nearly ended up registering a quality start. He labored, needing a season-high 126 pitches, but stranded five runners and earned a win after getting a strikeout to end his final inning of work. Stiegler was one of the Eagles’ most dependable pitchers throughout the year, whether in a relief role or as a starter, and he kept his team in it on Saturday.
Digging deep: A 3-0 deficit in the first inning was far from ideal as the Eagles’ trailed 4-0 on Thursday and 3-1 through two on Friday. Unlike those losses, though, BC got back into it against Virginia starter Nate Savino.
The left-hander worked two scoreless but the bottom of the Eagles’ order helped change that. Parker Landwehr drew a walk and Chris Galland was hit by a pitch to flip the lineup, setting up a RBI double from Frelick (followed by a passed ball) and a run-scoring single for Morissette. Just like that, it was 3-3. Then, after Kent went deep in the fourth, Frelick and Morissette teamed up in the fifth. The center fielder walked to open the inning, stole second, and then came home on a no-doubter from Morissette to deep right-center.
Morissette added another RBI on a sacrifice fly in the sixth, then Brian Dempsey had a RBI double and Frelick drew a bases-loaded hit by pitch in the seventh to cap the scoring. The Eagles trailed twice, but both times were able to get back into it and provide enough of a cushion for Walsh.
Rollercoaster of an end: Speaking of Walsh, it was a stressful few innings from the Eagles’ most trusted reliever. Thankfully, his season ended on a high note after a few rough outings this year. After stranding two in the seventh, Walsh ran into trouble in the eighth—he gave up a RBI double to pinch-hitter Logan Michaels and a sacrifice fly to Zack Gelof to make it a two-run game. He was able to strand runners on the corners, though, setting the stage for the ninth.
In the final frame, Alex Tappen hit a one-out double to left-center to bring the tying run to the plate. Up strode Kent—who finished the weekend with six hits, two home runs, and nine RBIs—but he wasn’t able to add to his stellar line as he grounded out to second. Walsh then closed out the three-inning save by getting Chris Newell to ground out as well.
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