Boston College Baseball Falls at Clemson, 8-4
By Joe Micik
Boston College Eagles baseball started its final ACC series of the 2014 season with a loss to the Clemson Tigers, 8-4, on Thursday night.
With the loss, Birdball has now lost consecutive games and five out of six following their season-long six-game win streak. The Eagles fall to 21-32 (9-19) on the season, further (and officially) ending all hope of Boston College qualifying for the ACC Tournament in Greensboro. This is the fourth-straight season in which the Eagles have lost at least 32 games, extending what already was the most loss-filled stretch in the history of the program.
Boston College opened up the scoring against the #25 Tigers, getting a run home after Clemson’s center fielder, Tyler Slaton, could not come up with the ball for an E-8. That 1-0 lead would be short-lived, as Clemson got two back in the bottom of the first against Eagles starter John Gorman. Clemson tied the game on a solo homer by DH Tyler Krieger, then took the lead after a wild pitch allowed Steven Duggar to score shortly after he doubled to right center.
In fact, including the two runs in the bottom of the first, Clemson would go on to score eight unanswered runs with two in the first, one in the second, three in the third, one in the fourth, and one in the seventh to eventually take an 8-1 lead. Two more Clemson solo home runs would add to that total during that span.
Boston College appeared to climb back into the game in the top of the eighth inning as right fielder Chris Shaw, already the team leader in home runs, hit a three-run homer to pull the Eagles back to within 8-4. That was as close as they would get, despite being able to have the tying run on deck in the ninth.
Shaw’s bomb was his sixth of the year, accounting for exactly half of the team’s total. No other Eagle has more than two.
Another unremarkable season of Boston College baseball draws nearer to a close on Friday evening as the Eagles and Tigers will play in the second game of their three-game set. The season finale is Saturday afternoon.