Eagles snatch series from Duke

After dropping the first game against Duke in Durham, the Boston College Eagles baseball team rallied to take games two and three on Saturday and Sunday. The two closing wins raise BC’s record to 13-16 (6-8), which moves the Eagles into second place in the ACC Atlantic. They are two and a half games behind first-place Florida State, who swept the Eagles earlier in the season.

In Saturday’s game, the Eagles won 5-3 behind seven innings from starter John Leonard. Sophomore Matt McGovern had four of BC’s 12 hits. On Sunday, BC went into the 11th inning in a 4-4 tie, but came out on top, 6-4, after Anthony Melchionda batted in two runs.

If the season ended today, Boston College would get an automatic ACC Tournament bid and be the 6th seed, but there are many dangers lying ahead for the Eagles. Within the next few weeks, BC will have to play highly-ranked Georgia Tech (#11) and Virginia (#2). The Eagles needed to take the series this weekend to keep themselves afloat, especially keeping in mind what teams they have remaining on their schedule.

The last few days have seen a significant spike in offensive statistics. Not more than a few games ago, Boston College was hitting .245 as a team. Following the Duke series, they now have a team batting average of .269. Team OPS is up to .719 now and they’re up to 4.8 runs scored per game. This is certainly a lot more like it, but BC will need even more production if they’re going to hang with the top teams.

The Eagles will return to action on Tuesday when they head up to Hanover, NH to face Dartmouth.