The Privateers got the better of the Eagles over the weekend
After splitting the season-opening series with USC Upstate, Boston College baseball (2-3) dropped two out of three games against the New Orleans Privateers (3-3) on the road last weekend.
On Friday night, with Erc Schroeder on the bump for BC, the Eagles took an early lead before New Orleans rallied back and won 5-4. Vince Cimini scored on the game’s first run in the second inning on a throwing error, but the Eagles offense wouldn’t score again until the seventh.
Schroeder gave up two runs in the bottom of the second and the Privateers took a 3-1 on an RBI single in the sixth. However, in the seventh, BC collected five hits and scored three times to take a 4-3 lead. Josiah Ragsdale recorded his first RBI as an Eagle and Jack Toomey and Sam McNulty also drove in runs in the inning. Unfortunately that lead would not last long. The Privateers strung together three hits in the bottom of the seventh and scored once more, snatching a close 5-4 win over BC.
On Saturday, the team split a doubleheader, with BC winning the first game and losing the second. BC’s offense came alive in game one, scoring 11 runs on 14 hits. In the opening frame, Nick Wang doubled in a run and Cimini singled to center to put BC up 2-0. In the second, Toomey scored on a throwing error. New Orleans also scored in the second, but Birdball responded quickly.
In the top of the fourth, Adam Magpooc scored on a wild pitch and McNulty drove in his second run of the weekend, giving the Eagles a 5-1 lead. In the sixth, Ragsdale slapped a two-run triple to right center and later scored on a thrrowing error. He also drove in another run in the eighth with a single and Kyle Wolff also homered in the inning.
A.J. Colarusso started for the team and went three innings, giving up one earned run and striking out four. Cesar Gonzalez relieved him and threw two scoreless innings to earn the win for BC. The Eagles won 11-3, despite giving up 13 hits to New Orleans.
Game two of the doubleheader was a much more competitive affair and went into extra innings. Alex Bryant made his debut on the mound in this game and pitched well to start the rubber match. He threw three scoreless innings before loading the bases in the fourth and eventually allowing four earned runs in the frame. The Privateers tacked on another in the fourth and held a 5-0 lead. But over the next three innings, the Eagles clawed their way back and tied the game. They scored in the fifth on a single by Ragsdale, in the sixth on doubles by Magpoc and Toomey, and in the seventh on groundout by Patrick Roche and a single by Wang.
The game remained tied until Roche stepped to the plate in the ninth and drove the ball over the left field fence and gave BC its first lead of the game, 6-5. But the Privateers scored with two outs in the ninth to keep the game alive and walked the game off with a two-out, bases loaded, hit-by-pitch to win 7-6 in eleven innings. In that inning, Bobby Chicoine hit two batters, and walked two more, with one being intentional.
After five games, BC baseball is now 2-3 and has been up and down so far this season. Game three was an especially disappointing loss after the Eagles came back from a 5-0 deficit.
Junior transfer Jack Toomey leads the team in batting with a .412 average; Wolff (.381) and Wang (.346) are close behind. Josiah Ragsdale also had a nice series, and now has two doubles, a triple, and five RBI this season. The Eagles were supposed to have two midweek games this week, but Tuesday’s game at Rhode Island was canceled and Wednesday’s game versus Stonehill was postponed. Birdball will return to action this weekend when they travel to Richmond, Virginia for the Central Virgnia Challenge.