Eagles engineer eight-run ninth, beat Auburn in extras after improbable comeback
Sal Frelick capped a rally from 9-1 down with a three-run HR and Luke Gold put BC ahead in the 10th to claim the weekend series.
Some might of turned off the game after the fourth, when Auburn put up a five-spot on Boston College and took a commanding 7-1 lead. Some might of stuck around until the sixth or the seventh, when the Tigers tacked on two more to go up 9-1, but then opted to find another way to spend their Sunday afternoon. After all, the Eagles had been shelled on Saturday and seemed headed toward another tough defeat and a weekend series loss.
But those who did missed one of most impressive comebacks you’ll ever see in a game of baseball. If they stuck around, they would have seen BC get down to its final strike three separate times in the ninth inning, only to find a way to get on base each time. They would have seen Luke Gold rope an RBI single that cut into a seemingly insurmountable eight-run deficit. They would have seen Cameron Leary add to his strong day with a run-scoring single. They would have seen Dante Baldelli and Travis Honeyman patiently reach base, and they would have seen Chris Galland snap a skid with a two-run double. And finally, they would have seen Sal Frelick, the All-American, the spark plug of the team, crush a no-doubt, game-tying three-run home run to force extra innings.
You know the rest: People turned the streams back on, watching established Eagles’ reliever Joey Walsh strand a runner in the bottom of the ninth before Gold got another chance to write a chapter in his growing legend. The sophomore’s encore from his two-homer game on Friday night was another blast, this time a two-run shot over the towering fence in left field. It handed BC its first lead since the second inning, and it was one it wouldn’t relinquish.
Walsh closed the door on a stunned Tigers team in the home half of the 10th, securing an 11-9 victory and the series in the process.
“It’s awesome for a team learning how to handle things when they don’t go their way,” head coach Mike Gambino said. “They didn’t go our way yesterday, and it looked for a bit like they weren’t going our way today. The guys did a great job of handling it and I’m proud of the group. It’s easy to go away at that point, and they didn’t.”
Some three hours earlier, BC (8-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) took the first lead of the ballgame as Leary lined an RBI double into the gap in the second inning, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple. The lead didn’t last past the bottom of the frame, as opener Joe Vetrano gave up a two-run home run to Auburn’s (7-4) Cam Hill.
After Leary’s double, BC couldn’t crack Tigers’ starter Trace Bright, the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week, as he went five innings of one-run ball and allowed just three hits. The Eagles were unable to solve relievers Carson Skipper (who left after two outs due to injury) or Blake Burkhalter, either.
Meanwhile, BC reliever Alex Stiegler gave up five runs on six hits—five singles—in the fourth as the Auburn sent 10 men to the plate. Max Gieg was next out of the Eagles’ bullpen and went three innings, pitching well but still giving up a pair of runs on two more singles. The deficit was at eight runs heading into the ninth, so Auburn head coach Butch Thompson turned to his two-way designated hitter in Hill for the final three outs.
Frelick led off with a chopped single down the third base line. Cody Morissette flew out to left field. Brian Dempsey blooped a single into shallow left-center. Jack Cunningham got under one and flew out to left field. The Eagles had two on, but were down to their final out, and Hill got ahead of Gold. The crowd at Plainsman Park was on their feet, clapping and willing the first-year southpaw to finish off the game, but Gold answered by battling and slapping a single the other way to score a run.
Leary—making his first career start in the lineup—worked a full count, then lined a RBI single into left field. The Eagles had traction. Gambino brought in another freshman to hit, Honeyman, and the pressure started to creep into Hill. Despite getting ahead of Honeyman with consecutive strikes, Hill managed to hit him on the inside leg to load the bases. Thompson reached into his bullpen for right-hander Seb Thomas. He walked Baldelli on four pitches.
“So many guys had to be involved,” Gambino said of the ninth-inning at bats. “Nobody was hanging their heads, nobody was whining or complaining. It takes a lot of guys doing a bunch of small things along the way to allow those couple big things to happen at the end.”
A five-run deficit was still staring the Eagles in the face and Galland—who was 0-for-5 on the day and hitless on the weekend—strode to the plate. He saw two pitches, then lined a two-run double down the left field line on a fastball that Thomas left over the plate. The crowd grew quieter. Up came Frelick, who guided the BC lineup to Friday night’s win, for his second at bat of the frame. Down the third base line, Gambino paced in the coaches box, chatting briefly with the Auburn dugout.
Frelick took the first strike, about belt-high on the outer half of the plate. On the next pitch, Auburn catcher Steven Williams set up low, but Thomas’ ensuing pitch was up in the zone when Frelick’s swing connected. Everyone in the ballpark knew it was gone. Thomas turned, hands on knees, and his shoulders slumped. Frelick took off, pointing his bat in the air, shouting at his dugout before flipping the bat. It was a scene of jubilation as Frelick practically jumped around the bases while the Eagles’ bullpen beyond the right field fence erupted. Thomas readjusted his hat as Frelick took off his helmet before touching home plate and leaping into a crowd of teammates.
“We’d been having good at bats all game and we just couldn’t get stuff going,” Gambino said. “The guys just kept going and I was so proud of them.
“As the momentum started to build, there was this feeling that we’ve got a chance to win this baseball game. And then Sal did what Sal does.”
It didn’t matter that Thomas bounced back with a strikeout; the momentum was firmly in the visitor’s dugout and they made the most of it. In the top of the 10th, with one out and a runner on first against Auburn’s Peyton Glavine, Gold came back to the plate. He fought off several pitches before connecting on his go-ahead two-run home run. Gambino punched his fist in the coaches box when the ball cleared the structure with “War Eagle” emblazoned on it, Glavine fiddled with his glove, and Gold pumped his fists as he rounded the bases before being mobbed after crossing home plate.
The ending was inevitable from there. Walsh emerged from the Eagles’ dugout for his second inning of work—even after throwing 50 pitches on Friday—and worked around a single to end the game on a strikeout. Walsh roared, Frelick and Galland emphatically shoulder-bumped in the outfield, and the Tigers’ dugout was left wondering how they’d let a comfortable series-clinching win slip away.
“There's some guys who played great baseball today that are kind of puzzled and shocked and have to figure out how to pick up the pieces and move forward,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said after. “That's what you do with baseball.”
Images courtesy of Auburn Athletics.