BC Eagles’ ACC Baseball Hopes Slim After UNC Sweep
By Joe Micik
Boston College baseball needed a big weekend in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to keep themselves in the running for the 2012 ACC Tournament. At the very least, they needed a win to add to their total.
When Sunday’s series finale ended, however, the Eagles found that they had neither. The #10 North Carolina Tar Heels swept BC away in their three-game series, sending the Eagles to 20-29 (9-18) with only three conference games to go: a series against Duke in two weeks.
On Saturday afternoon, Boston College had a 5-2 lead in the middle game after it was suspended for several hours due to rain. When the contest resumed in the fifth inning, North Carolina battled back and made their way to a 6-5 win, snatching a much-needed Eagles victory from BC. UNC tied the game right away when they came up to bat in the bottom of the 5th against Nate Bayuk, who allowed all three unearned runs — BC committed two errors in the inning to force the tie.
North Carolina took the lead for good in the bottom of the 7th on an RBI double, while Boston College did not plate a run after the extended rain delay.
On Sunday, the Eagles never led. UNC scored all four of their runs in the first four innings of the game, and it would be all they needed as BC scratched out just one run in the top of the 4th. Taking the loss for the Eagles was Eric Stone, now 1-3 on the season; only three Boston College players got hits: Spenser Payne, Andrew Lawrence, and Matt Pare.
Boston College’s ACC tournament hopes have virtually evaporated this weekend with the North Carolina sweep. Though their final series of the year is against last-place Duke at 7-17, BC, with three games left in ACC play, have put themselves in a near-impossible situation mathematically.
The Eagles are two and a half games behind the #8 spot in the field. BC’s maximum number of wins in the conference is 12, which means that Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech would have to lose the vast majority of their games while BC sweeps Duke and Wake Forest makes no advance. In all likelihood, however, the Eagles’ shot at Greensboro ended this past weekend. A season which began with a promising 6-2 record and an early-season tournament win looks set to end in disappointment.
Since the Red Sox exhibition game, Boston College has gone 14-27 overall.
The Eagles next play two games against Fordham at BC on Saturday and Sunday.