Eagles swept by N.C. State after 7-0 defeat
BC managed just two hits, squandering a strong start from Alex Stiegler as Wolfpack starter Matt Willadsen hurled a complete game shutout.
After a four-run seventh from visiting North Carolina State doomed Boston College on Saturday, the series finale on a gloomy Sunday afternoon struck a similar tone.
Trailing 1-0 in the eighth after an outstanding start from right-hander Alex Stiegler, head coach Mike Gambino turned to freshman reliever Charlie Coon with runners on the corners and two outs. Coon promptly loaded the bases with a walk, then gave up a three-run double to Jose Torres.
An inning later, reliever Joey Walsh—who couldn’t protect a slim lead on Saturday after inheriting a few runners—gave up another three-run, bases-clearing double to Wolfpack catcher Luca Tresh, and what had been a close, winnable game turned into a disappointing 7-0 blowout loss.
The Eagles (14-16, 4-14 Atlantic Coast) suffered their third weekend sweep of the season, falling 10 games under .500 in conference play and digging an even deeper hole to climb out of to reach the postseason. N.C. State (14-11, 8-10), meanwhile, is a team trending in the opposite direction, having won five straight and seven of its last nine conference games. Matt Willadsen went the distance for the Wolfpack, spinning a shutout while allowing just two hits, four walks, and striking out five.
“We’ve kind of got our backs up against it a little bit right now and we all know it,” Gambino said after.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:
Stiegler matches Sheehan: After Sheehan pitched into the seventh in Saturday’s loss, Stiegler came out and pitched into the eighth in a similarly impressive performance. Stiegler struck out 11, didn’t walk anyone, and was largely cruising (save for a run allowed in the seventh) until he exited with two outs and runners on the corners in the eighth. He was charged with two more runs once reliever Charlie Coon couldn’t escape the jam, but nonetheless was a really strong 110-pitch outing.
“I had all my pitches going today—I had my sidearm, curveball, slider, changeup, and fastball,” Stiegler said of his performance against the Wolfpack. “I could throw all of them where I wanted today and I felt like I had a little more juice.”
“I think the biggest thing was that I’m just not scared of these hitters,” he added. “I’ve been in the ACC for a good amount of time now and there’s no reason to fear anybody.”
It was the second weekend in a row that Stiegler has turned in a quality start as the Sunday starter and it’s been a really strong 1-2 punch. Here’s Stiegler and Sheehan’s combined lines the last two weekends:
Stiegler: 14 IP, 13 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 14 K
Sheehan: 12.2 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 18 K
It’s worth noting that all of those runs came pretty much at the end of their starts and several were courtesy of relievers allowing inherited runners to score.
“We had a great start from Emmet yesterday and another great start from Alex today,” Gambino said. “It stinks to waste that good of a start. He gave us everything he could and hit a wall there at the end.”
Bullpen struggles: Gambino brought on Coon for a lefty-lefty matchup against Jonny Butler—who’d already hit two doubles against Stiegler—and the freshman walked him after a full count. That brought up Torres, who lined a double down into the left-field corner to clear the bases and extend the Wolfpack lead to four.
“We needed Charlie to come in and attack Butler, but he had trouble getting a feel for his breaking ball,” Gambino said. “So then we lost Butler. Torres came up and you could see that [Coon] didn’t have great feel for his breaking ball and thats’s how Torres got him.”
In the ninth, Coon had a strikeout and issued a walk before Gambino turned to Walsh with J.T. Jarrett up. A costly throwing error from shortstop Brian Dempsey put Jarrett on, but Walsh got a flyout and was nearly out of the inning before he lost Tyler McDonough and walked him. With the bases loaded and the Eagles badly needing to keep it within four for the home half of the ninth, Walsh missed a spot and Tresh punished it with a hard-hit three-run double to put the game out of reach.
“He missed a spot to Tresh and Tresh hit it hard,” Gambino said of Walsh, who appeared after throwing 31 pitches the day prior. “But he did get a ground ball and we’ve got to make that play.”
Willadsen dominant: Stiegler didn’t get any run support as the Eagles lineup was on their heels for much of the game against Willadsen, a second-year right-hander. Willadsen—who had walked just three batters in his previous three starts combined—walked four, but only allowed two hits and worked efficiently. He threw a career-high 123 pitches but only allowed one baserunner from the second inning until the eighth.
“We couldn’t make an adjustment on his changeup and that was really the whole thing,” Gambino said. “I thought our plan was really sound against them, but that’s a really good changeup and you could see how devastating it could be.”
The Wolfpack leaned heavily on its starting rotation this weekend and had excellent results. The trio of Reid Johnston, Sam Highfill, and Willadsen combined for 22.2 of 27 innings and allowed eight runs on 12 hits and struck out 15. BC was held scoreless for just the third time this year by Willadsen and couldn’t get anything from two real scoring chances.
Jack Cunningham was the culprit both times, as in the first, he grounded out to first with two runners in scoring position. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, Cunningham came up with the bases loaded and two outs and struck out swinging. That accounted for all five runners left on base, as Sal Frelick was thrown out trying to steal to end the sixth.
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