Boston College Baseball Comes Back in Ninth, Beats Santa Clara 8-6
By Joe Micik
Boston College Eagles baseball did not have much to show for their efforts during the 2013 season, but so far, they are off to a fast start in 2014.
Birdball won its third game in a row on Sunday afternoon as they defeated the Santa Clara Broncos, 8-6, in California. With the win, Boston College improved to 3-1 on the season.
Santa Clara jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings, blasting Eagles starter Jeff Burke for five runs and seven hits over three innings of work. From there, Coach Mike Gambino was forced to piece the game together out of the bullpen in hopes that his offense would find a way to claw its way back.
Boston College got on the board in the fourth inning as right fielder Chris Shaw hit a two-run homer, the first Eagles dinger of the season, to make it a 5-2 ballgame. So it would remain until the bottom of the sixth, when the Broncos’ Greg Harisis knocked an RBI single to push the home team lead back to 6-2.
The Eagles were not done, however, as they came right back with two more runs in the seventh to inch to within 6-4 of Santa Clara. Boston College kept up the pressure with another run in the top of the eighth to make it 6-5, setting them up for their final push in the ninth. The Eagles would get second and third with nobody out, at which point Tom Bourdon’s RBI single tied the game at six, and John Hennessy’s sacrifice fly would put Boston College ahead for good. They tacked on an insurance run on another sac fly by Chris Shaw, who knocked in three on Sunday.
Freshman Bobby Skogsbergh got the win for the Eagles in his NCAA debut, pitching two shutout innings, while John Nicklas recorded his first save.
There’s no telling how long the good times will roll for Birdball, but coming back from a five-run deficit is no small feat, regardless of the opponent. This is especially true when your team is about three-thousand miles from home.
Boston College baseball now heads to Florida for a three-game set against Stetson, to be followed by a trip to Fort Myers to face the Boston Red Sox.