Notebook: "Obviously we’re not happy with that weekend, but now it’s about how we react."
Head coach Mike Gambino on Louisville, pitching, and more. Plus, ELO ratings and a rankings update.
After a weekend sweep at the hands of now-No. 8 Louisville, Boston College (9-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) takes on Holy Cross at 3 p.m. this afternoon to kick off an eight-game homestand. The Eagles managed just three runs in the first two games against the Cardinals, then saw a two-run eighth-inning lead slip away in the Sunday finale. They also had some bad news, with starting second baseman and preseason All-American Cody Morissette suffering a hand injury in Friday’s defeat and missing the rest of the series. I caught up with head coach Mike Gambino about Morissette, pitching, and more. Here’s what you need to know.
Sheehan’s Development
On Saturday, starter Emmet Sheehan went six innings and gave up five runs—both coming on a pair of home runs—but pitched particularly well otherwise. The junior, making his ninth career start, had seven strikeouts to three walks and looked much better than he had the weekend prior against Auburn. After giving up his second home run of the game in the fourth, Sheehan retired the next seven batters in a row to close out his start.
“For Emmet, it was a great step in his development,” Gambino said. “He made two mistakes and they hit them both hard, there was a couple of walks in there, but he had a couple innings where he was completely dominant.”
Pelio Throwing vs. Pitching
On Friday night, meanwhile, ace Mason Pelio was lighting up the radar gun to the tune of 95-100 mph—but he was tagged for five earned runs on five hits, six walks, and had just two strikeouts. He registered just one out in the fifth inning and now has 16 walks to 15 strikeouts on the season. Gambino noted that the speed on the mound was impressive, but the game got away from Pelio.
“Mason just got to throwing a little bit,” he said. “I think when he started seeing those 98’s, 99’s, 100’s flashing up on the scoreboard he kind of got excited. Everybody did. But in the ACC, hitters can hit 100. We’re going to see a really good Mason moving forward.”
Through four starts, he is 2-2 with a 5.21 ERA. In his wins, he’s thrown 10 2/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts to five walks and seven hits. In his losses, he’s coughed up 11 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings with 11 walks, 11 hits allowed, and nine strikeouts. To have weekend success in the ACC, the Eagles need the first version of Pelio.
Missing Morissette
On Saturday, without Morissette and Jack Cunningham (who returned to the lineup on Sunday after a day off), the Eagles lineup was shut out for the first time this season and held to just three hits. Cunningham returned to go 3-for-4 in the final game of the weekend, but BC will be without Morissette for at the very least the upcoming weekend against North Carolina.
“We all know this is a tremendous lineup with power and speed and length throughout the lineup,” Gambino said. “As much as we can’t wait to get Cody back because you’re talking about arguably the best pure hitter in the country, we’ve got guys who can step in and give us good at bats and give us chances to win.”
One of those guys is Vince Cimini, who earned both starts at second base in Morissette’s absence. Cimini, a sophomore, had previously been a late-inning defensive substitute thanks to his fielding prowess. He went 2-for-6 with a clutch RBI double, a run scored, and two walks against the Cardinals over the weekend.
“He can really, really play defense and he’s going to consistently give you good at bats,” Gambino added. “You saw that this weekend with a couple of really big hits.”
Bumps in the Road
The first weekend setback of the year after sweeping Charleston Southern and taking two of three from Duke and Auburn was a tough pill for the Eagles’—who’d climbed as high as No. 13 in the polls—to swallow. Still, it’s just the second conference weekend of 12 and there’s a lot of baseball left.
“You’re not going to play a season as long as we play, as play as many good teams as we play, without hitting a few bumps in the road,” he said. “Honestly, we talked about that after Auburn. We’re playing well but there’s going to be bumps in the road. Obviously we’re not happy with that weekend but now it’s about how we react, what we’re going to do next.”
Elo Ratings
All stats as of Tuesday, March 16 at 10 p.m. Visit WarrenNolan.com for more info.
Rankings Update
Here’s the latest look at the rankings from D1Baseball.com, Baseball America, and the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association).
Virginia completed its fall from the rankings with a winless weekend against Notre Dame. The Cavaliers are now 7-8 on the season, a very shaky opening few weeks for a team that was in the Top 15 of most rankings to start the year. UVA is taking care of business during the week, but its also dropped two of three to both North Carolina and Florida State.
Pittsburgh has been one of the nation’s fastest climbers in the polls thanks to a few strong weekends. The Panthers bookended a series loss to Duke with a sweep of Florida State and two of three against at a top-10 side in Georgia Tech.
Notre Dame and Miami, meanwhile, are both on conference-best five-game winning streaks. The Irish—yet to play a non-conference game—have taken series’ against Wake Forest, Clemson, and most recently, UVA. The Hurricanes—one of two top-10 teams in the conference—bounced back from a series loss to Virginia Tech by taking two of three against North Carolina State, drubbing FAU, and sweeping a shortened series with the Demon Deacons.
Featured Image Courtesy of BC Athletics