This is the first piece of a four-part series that will look at each month of the 2021 season in depth. Included is a schedule recap, hitter and pitcher of the month, and other notes from that portion of the year. Stay tuned for player-by-player year in reviews as well as other longer-form pieces.
Ah, February. It’s always felt a bit strange to see the college baseball season open up in a winter month, but it also brings with it the joy and optimism of a new season.
For Boston College, it was a near-perfect start. The Eagles’ played a pair of weekend series on the road and took five of six, handily dispatching Charleston Southern before taking two of three from then-No. 11 Duke. The lineup was humming, the rotation—save for one start—was excellent, and even the bullpen showed some promising signs.
Here’s a look at the games, stats, and highlights:
Hitter of the Month: Sal Frelick, CF .429/.484/.607, 142 OPS+, 6 RBI, 9 R, 3 SB
Frelick closed the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign on an 0-for-18 stretch but returned with a vengeance. In his first six games of 2021, Frelick slashed .429/.484/.607 with six RBIs, nine runs scored, three steals, and a home run. He got on base at a .500 clip in the three-game set against Duke and finished the brief six-game month with 12 hits, three more than any teammate.
Gold was pegged as a dangerous middle-of-the-order bat and demonstrated that in his first two weekends of the year. He drove in six runs against Charleston Southern, then had an excellent start to the ACC season against Duke as he tacked on two doubles, a home run, and six RBIs.
Jack Cunningham, 1B — .364/.467/.500, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 5 R
Cunningham went 0-for-10 against the Buccaneers—granted, he did score twice and drove in four runs—but enjoyed a monster weekend against Duke. The fifth-year first baseman went 8-for-12 against the Blue Devils with three doubles, three runs scored, and also walked twice.
Pitcher of the Month: Emmet Sheehan, RHP 2-0, 12 IP, 1.50 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 2.74 FIP, 7 BB%, 39 K%
Sheehan turned in two gems in his first two starts, going six innings in each of them. The junior showed the first signs of a breakout campaign as he wracked up 18 strikeouts to just three walks across 12 innings. Sheehan earned the win in both outings and finished the month at 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA, .190 batting average against, and 39 K%.
We knew Stiegler was going to be used in a plethora of different situations from the very beginning of the season. The Yale transfer was a bulk man to opener Joe Vetrano against Charleston Southern and struck out five over four scoreless, then was used twice against Duke as a middle reliever and a closer.
Game of the Month: BC 10, Duke 6
In what was a wild ACC opener that was played over the course of two days thanks to rain, the Eagles escaped with a come-from-behind victory. Duke lead 2-0 and 4-2, only to see BC take a 5-4 lead. The Blue Devils rallied to take a 6-5 lead, but the Eagles struck for three in the eighth and two more in the ninth to pull away.
…it was a four-and-a-half hour game that spanned two days thanks to rain, featured four lead changes, and a win probability chart that zigged up and down.
tbt