No. 9 Virginia Drops Series Opener at Boston College

BRIGHTON, Mass. – Despite a feverish rally in the ninth inning, the No. 9 Virginia baseball team (21-6, 6-4 ACC) fell 5-3 to the Boston College Eagles (19-8, 7-3 ACC) at Brighton Baseball Field on Friday (March 27).

 

In what was a pitcher’s duel in the early going, the Eagles grabbed the lead in the second inning with a two-run blast before adding insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Looking for its 10th comeback win of the year, the UVA offense plated a pair of runs in the ninth and brought the game-tying run to the plate before a groundout ended the contest.

 

The Virginia trio of Joe Tiroly, Jake Tiroly and Sam Harris each tallied a pair of hits on Friday, while Tiroly drove in a pair of runs. Kyle Johnson was tagged with the loss for UVA after allowing two runs on three hits in two innings of work.

  

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The homestanding Eagles struck first in the bottom of the second with a two-run home run off the bat of Kyle Wolff.
• Viriginia scratched across a run in the top of the seventh when Weatherspoon singled home Tiroly to cut the Eagle advantage in half.
• Boston College tacked on another run in the sixth when Jack Toomey scampered home on a Virginia error that made it a 3-1 contest.
• An inning later, the Eagles added a pair of insurance runs with back-to-back RBI singles to extend their lead to 5-1.
• To give UVA life in the ninth, AJ Gracia worked a two-out walk before Harris and Tiroly roped back-to-back RBI doubles down the line in left to bring the tying run to the plate.
• For the final out, Boston College’s Cesar Gonzalez included a groundball with a Cavalier runner on second.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• The UVA pitching duo of Kyle Johnson and Henry Zatkowski combined to surrender only one Eagle batter on Friday. It was the third-straight game Virginia pitchers two or fewer walks.
• Virginia’s infield duo of Noah Murray and Joe Tiroly each extended their respective on-base streaks to 15 games.
• Eric Becker had his team-best 14-game hit streak broken on Friday with a 0-for-5 afternoon.

FROM HEAD COACH CHRIS POLLARD

“From a positive perspective, I thought we pitched well. I thought Henry Zatkowski pitched really well. Six hits spaced out over six innings with one extra-base hit. We only gave up one free base from the mound. We threw plenty of strikes and limited them to mostly singles. I thought we did a good job of competing until the very last pitch of the ballgame.” 

UP NEXT

No. 9 Virginia will look to even the series on Saturday (March 28) with the middle of a three-game set. Left-hander Max Stammel (2-1) will get the start on the mound for Virginia against Boston College’s Tyer Mudd. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. on ACCNX.