Sunday G2: W, 6–3

The Eagles bounced back fast.

Less than an hour after suffering a one-run loss to New Jersey Institute of Technology (16–28–1, 6–15 American East), No. 22 Boston College baseball (36–17, 17–10 Atlantic Coast) learned from its mistakes and took an early lead in the second game of its doubleheader, responded after NJIT tied the game, and close it out with steady pitching.

“I was really pleased with the day in terms of the way we competed, and the way we focused on getting out of here with a split after the first game. I feel great,” BC head coach Todd Interdonato said.

Starting pitcher AJ Colarusso opened play by allowing a leadoff single by Ty Sallie, then struck out Austin Francis looking. The Eagles promptly erased the baserunner when Sallie was caught stealing at second, and Rowin O’Connor grounded out to end the frame.

Julio Solier came out of the gate taking every opportunity he could. The sophomore drew a walk and stole second, then advanced to third on a Gunnar Johnson fly out. Kyle Wolff scored Solier with a single, then ran home himself as Esteban Garcia hit an RBI double to left center, putting BC up 2–0. Wolff has racked up four RBIs in his last five games. 

“[Wolff] just brings another power threat—with Carter out, who’s a power threat, and with Jack out, who’s a power threat—[Wolff is] kind of come-in,” Interdonato said. “We’ve talked about it so much, and the fact that once he got rotated out, how good of a teammate he was on the bench really gave us a lot of confidence when it was his turn to go back.”

Colarusso retired NJIT in order, and the Eagles went down in similar fashion, leaving the second inning scoreless. But things picked back up in the top of the fourth, when Tyler Mudd replaced Colarusso. The Highlanders immediately took advantage with solo homers from Rowin O’Connor and Conner Rippo, tying the game 2–2. 

NJIT grabbed its first lead of the game in the fifth, when Nick Vega and Sheehan O’Connor smacked consecutive singles, and Rowin O’Connor notched a two-out RBI single to put the Highlanders ahead 3–2.

But with a narrow loss from earlier in the day ringing through their heads, the Eagles responded with their biggest inning of the game. Danny Surowiec walked to start the rally and Solier tied the game with an RBI single. The sophomore out of Puerto Rico has racked up the fourth-most hits in the ACC, with 77 on the season. 

Nick Wang followed up with an RBI double to score Solier—and, despite an NJIT pitching change, Johnson doubled down the right field line to score Wang from second and send the Eagles out of the inning with a 5–3 lead. 

BC racked up an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a leadoff single from Garcia, a walk from Surowiec, and a hit-by-pitch for Cesar Gonzalez. With the bases loaded and just one out on the count, NJIT pitcher Anthony Anzaldi lost control and was called for a balk that scored Garcia and extended BC’s advantage to three. From there, BC’s bullpen maintained the lead and shut the door on NJIT’s chances at a comeback, securing a 6–3 win to split the day. 

“I told those guys out there, I have a ton of faith in them,” Interdonato said. “I have a ton of trust in them in terms of just the way they focus and compete, and—six days off, or seven days off, coming out here and focusing for 18 straight innings—that’s just a sign of a really good team.”

Sunday G1: L, 8–7

The first ever meeting between BC and NJIT did not go how the Eagles intended.

An early burst of homers put NJIT up 3–0 going into the third inning, and the Highlanders capitalized with superior hitting to outlast BC. While the Eagles knocked out an early deficit and controlled the game in the middle innings, NJIT’s fifth inning made the difference. After a three-run homer from Can, the Eagles scrambled and failed to make up the difference.

The Highlanders struck first via a Rowin O’Connor solo homer on a 3-2 count, sending BC onto offense down 1–0. Starting pitcher Josh Willits struck out Solier and Wang in order, and a Ty Mainolfi single was BC’s sole bright point of the frame. 

NJIT entered the second frame with a bang. Cole Campbell slammed a 412-foot leadoff home run. And after back-to-back singles, Sheehan O’Connor put up another run with an RBI single to bump the Highlanders’ advantage to 3–0. The Eagles went down quietly in the bottom half as Willitts put up a 1-2-3 frame—one of BC’s two such innings in the game. 

But Miller settled in for BC, allowing just two runners to reach base through both the third and fourth. His success on the mound bled into BC’s play in the bottom of the third, as Williams drew a walk, Colin Larson was hit by a pitch, and a sac bunt from Solier advanced both of them into scoring position. Wang continued the trend and fell on the sword himself, scoring Williams with a sac fly and cutting NJIT’s lead to 3–1.

Wang has the most sacrifice flies in the ACC this season, with nine.  

BC continued its comeback bid in the fourth, as Wolff hit a 408-foot leadoff homer. Williams hit an infield single to second base, stole second, and later scored off of a Larson triple that went flying down the right field line. Solier notched an RBI groundout to seize a 4–3 BC advantage.

But BC’s short-lived momentum crumbled, and the Highlanders took control of the game in the top of the fifth. Austin Francis was hit by a pitch, Rowin O’Connor singled, and with just one out on the board, Campbell tied the game 4–4 with an RBI single to right center. 

After Brody Levin put up another RBI single, the Eagles brought in Gonzalez to relieve Miller. But the very next pitch saw a three-RBI homer from Can, pushing NJIT ahead 8–4 and establishing a lead that BC would be unable to overcome. 

“[Miller’s] stuff is so good, his execution and his feel is elite, we just have to encourage him to be more aggressive,” Interdonato said when asked about Miller’s performance. “I just thought both last week and this week, he just came off the gas pedal a little bit.”

While Williams ripped a two-run ground-rule double to cut the lead to 8–6, and a sixth-inning RBI single from Luke Gallo brought the Eagles within a run of the Highlanders, relief pitcher Tade Riordan shut BC out in the final three innings. He allowed just one walk and one hit as the Eagles suffered what could be a consequential loss in regard to their hopes of hosting a postseason regional.