Eagles fall to Merrimack in final midweek game of the year
The Warriors beat BC for the first time in program history, winning 7-5.
The last time Boston College hosted Merrimack, the Eagles needed to erase an eight-run deficit to escape with a 10-9 victory. On Tuesday night, even with a full contingent of weekend arms taking the mound, BC trailed from the first inning on in an eventual 7-5 setback to close out its non-conference schedule.
The Warriors (18-20), who moved up to D-I in 2020, struck for three runs in the first off of Eagles’ (20-26) usual Saturday starter Mason Pelio and four more off of reliever Joe Mancini en route to the surprising victory. Merrimack right-hander Stephen Fleury spun five innings of two-run ball while Thomas Joyce and Alex Haba both drove in two runs apiece.
BC, playing without Sal Frelick for the first time all year, was paced by three-hit nights from Dante Baldelli and Cody Morissette, who hit first and second in the lineup. Still, the Eagles were a woeful 1-for-14 (.071) with runners in scoring position and allowed Fleury to largely cruise through five innings on just 61 pitches.
It was a disappointing loss for the Eagles’ that came on the heels of being eliminated from ACC Tournament contention. Local non-conference play was an adventure for BC all season, though. The Eagles split with Rhode Island, won both against Holy Cross (including a game that featured a combined 30 runs), were blown out by UConn, lost to UMass, and ultimately split with Merrimack.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Missed opportunities: The Eagles had every chance to win this game. After falling behind 3-0 in the first, Baldelli immediately got BC on the board with a leadoff home run on an 0-1 pitch. He added another RBI on a double in the the third to make it a one-run game, but a double play killed any hopes of more scoring that inning.
In the sixth, with the Eagles’ now trailing 7-2, BC loaded the bases with nobody out against reliever Casey Hegan. It was a golden chance to get back into the game, but instead, Ramon Jimenez struck out, Brian Dempsey had a sacrifice fly, and Peter Burns struck out. Bases loaded, nobody out produces a run expectancy of 2.3, but the Eagles’ squandered their biggest chance.
In the seventh, they had first and third with one out and again only managed a single run to make it 7-4. Again in the eighth, they had two in scoring position with just one out and only managed a lone sacrifice fly from Parker Landwehr. Finally, to close out a tough day at the dish, BC had the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth—the winning run at first—and Dempsey flew out to end the game.
Weekend Starters: Pelio and Mancini, who started each of the games in last Saturday’s doubleheader with Pitt, combined to allow all seven of the Warriors’ runs. It was their first action since then and was undoubtedly a bullpen day (we also saw Alex Stiegler, Joey Walsh, Charlie Coon, and Joe Vetrano) in preparation for the weekend series against Virginia.
Pelio hit the first batter he faced, then gave up a single and a walk to load the bases. Joyce then laced a one-out double to the wall in center field to score two and Michael Golankiewicz tacked on a sacrifice fly.
Mancini, meanwhile, threw two-plus innings in the middle of the game. He entered in the fourth and worked an efficient 1-2-3 frame, then gave up a sacrifice fly in his second inning of work. The sixth was when things declined quickly—he issued a leadoff walk, gave up a single, then a two-run triple to Haba. Stiegler entered for Mancini and got a big first out, but couldn’t strand the inherited runner at third as Michael Jamele poked a RBI single into center.
Featured Image Courtesy of Merrimack Athletics
Tough go of it for BC and BC (Bitcoin)