Eagles fall to another late-inning Hokies' push, drop series
No. 23 Virginia Tech took the lead for the first time in the eighth and claimed the series as a result.
For much of the three-game series against No. 23 Virginia Tech, Boston College was leading. The Eagles led 5-0 in the first game, 5-0 in the second, and 3-0 in the third. They led for 22.2 of 27 possible innings against the Hokies.
And yet, after another bullpen collapse in a close game, BC is heading home having dropped two of three after being outscored 11-1 past the fifth inning during the three-game set.
On Sunday, needing a momentum-building win to avoid a fourth straight ACC series defeat, the Eagles’ went to their bullpen in a tie game. Left-hander Joe Vetrano escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, but gave up a run on a fielder’s choice in the eighth as Virginia Tech took the game—and the series—by a 4-3 scoreline.
Sunday’s loss dropped BC (13-13, 4-11 Atlantic Coast) to seven games under .500 in conference play and into the cellar in the Atlantic Division. Back-to-back late-inning losses to the Hokies (15-9, 11-7) has revealed what has already been identified as the team’s biggest impediment to a postseason run: The bullpen. When the lineup isn’t slugging the team away to a comfortable lead, the Eagles have revealed that even if you have strong starting pitching—as they did in each game of the series for the first time in several weeks—it doesn’t matter if you can’t keep a lead or keep it tied late.
On Saturday, it was Max Gieg squandering a two-run lead in the ninth. On Sunday, it was Vetrano, dancing with fire with runners on base in each of his innings before getting burnt. A four-pitch leadoff walk in the eighth to Kevin Madden, the hero of the game prior, came back to haunt him. Madden stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and raced home to beat a throw from second baseman Cody Morissette on a groundout with the infield in for the eventual winning run.
The Eagles put two on in the bottom of the ninth against reliever Matt Siverling, but Virginia Tech turned to Graham Firoved to get the final out and he got Luke Gold to pop out harmlessly in foul territory.
The loss overshadowed a strong performance from BC right-hander Alex Stiegler, who turned in the third straight quality start by an Eagles pitcher. Stiegler went six-plus innings and allowed three runs—all coming on a pair of back-to-back home runs from Gavin Cross and TJ Rumfield in the sixth—while walking two and striking out three. The two home runs erased an early 3-0 lead, but Stiegler otherwise held the Hokies in check. Between Stiegler, Mason Pelio, and Emmet Sheehan, BC’s rotation combined to throw 19.1 innings on the weekend. The more length head coach Mike Gambino can get from that trio, the better chance the Eagles have at avoiding late-inning meltdowns.
For the third game in a row, BC’s lineup was awake early only to falter as the game went on. The Eagles finally got contributions from the heart of their lineup after leaning on the bottom third of the order in the previous games. Gold hit a RBI double in the first and added a run-scoring single in the third against Hokies’ starter Shane Connolly, while Vince Cimini capped the scoring in the same frame with a single to right. Sal Frelick logged a four-hit game, too.
After the third, though, BC was held in check. Connolly was chased after two reached in the fifth, but reliever Jaison Heard got a big double play and a groundout to escape the jam. Heard used another double play in the sixth and worked around a walk in the seventh to finish his day with three scoreless innings. Siverling then worked around a pinch-hit single from Ramon Jimenez in the eighth to keep it tied, setting the stage for the Hokies go-ahead run in the home half. The Virginia Tech bullpen was phenomenal over the course of the weekend, combining for a 1.13 ERA over 16 innings with 15 strikeouts.
Ultimately, it was another winnable game that slipped away late for the Eagles. It joins the first game of the Clemson series, when BC led 10-6 in the sixth only to see the bullpen allow 10 runs in the next three innings. It joins the extra-inning game against those same Tigers, when the bullpen allowed a six-spot in the 10th. It joins the 5-4 loss to North Carolina, when the Tar Heels broke a tie game with a run in the ninth. It joins the 8-6 loss to Louisville where the Cardinals scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to erase a two-run deficit. There’s been many games this season where BC, had it not faltered on the mound late, could have won. Winning those four—plus the two from this weekend—would flip a .500 record and a tough conference record to 19-7 with 10 ACC wins.
Obviously, there’s no rewriting an up-and-down first seven weeks of the season. Instead, the Eagles will just have to attempt to dig out of this hole that they’ve put themselves into.
Featured Image Courtesy of Virginia Tech Athletics