Boston College Baseball: Late Runs Decide Game Two in the Desert

PHOENIX – The Boston College baseball team lost to No. 8 Arizona State, 8-4, in front of 2,024 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Saturday night. The Eagles evened their record at 3-3, while the Sun Devils, who scored seven runs after the fifth inning, improved to 4-3.

ASU came back from a brief deficit with a four-run bottom of the sixth. Right fielder Hunter Jump tied the game with a solo home run to right-center. A walk and an error put two on with nobody out and forced BC to go to its bullpen. The Eagles intentionally walked first baseman Spencer Torkelson to load the bases with two away, but the Sun Devils took the lead on a wild pitch and added two more on a single to center by left fielder Trevor Hauver.

Sophomore right-hander Joe Mancini (Fairfield, Conn.) took the loss for Boston College. He allowed four runs on four hits and five walks with three strikeouts in five-plus innings. Mancini (0-1) was charged with just two earned runs; both solo home runs. His two unearned runs came following his own error as he slipped while fielding a bunt and threw high to first.

RHP Tyler Thornton (1-0) lasted six innings in the win for Arizona State. He scattered six hits and a walk, yielding two runs, and struck out five.

Trailing 1-0 after a Torkelson home run in the first, the Eagles got on the board with a pair of runs in the sixth. Sophomore right fielder Sal Frelick (Lexington, Mass.) hit a leadoff home run to straightaway center. Sophomore third baseman Cody Morissette (Exeter, N.H.) singled and after a base hit by senior first baseman Jack Cunningham (South Riding, Va.) Morissette scored on a single by freshman designated hitter Luke Gold (Ballston, N.Y.).

The Eagles staged an eighth-inning comeback with two runs and got the tying run to the plate. Morissette and senior left fielder Joe Suozzi (Glen Cove, N.Y.) doubled back-to-back to produce a run. Cunningham singled and an error at third a batter later cut the ASU lead to three with nobody out. The Sun Devils called on closer RJ Dabovich, who got a double-play ball and a strikeout to keep BC at bay. Dabovich finished the game with two perfect innings and two strikeouts for his third save of the season.

DETAILS
Score: No. 8 Arizona State 8, Boston College 4
Records: Arizona State 4-3, Boston College 3-3
Location: Phoenix Municipal Stadium (Phoenix)
Attendance: 2,024

BC HIGHLIGHTS

Mancini worked around a leadoff single in the second by inducing a groundball out from Torkelson.
Mancini again got Torkelson to hit into a force out to strand runners on the corners in the fourth.
Frelick’s solo home run went out to straightaway center (395′) to tie the game in the sixth.
Gold put BC ahead later in the sixth with a base hit ripped off the third baseman’s glove, but was thrown out attempting to stretch a single into a double.
Morissette and Suozzi hit back-to-back doubles to open the eighth and produce a run.

GAME NOTES

BC is 0-6 all-time against Arizona State and 1-9 vs. the Pac-12.
Suozzi extended his career-best hit streak to 10 games with a fourth-inning single.
Frelick hit his first home run of the season and fifth of his career.
Morissette logged his first multi-hit game of the season and 23^rd of his career with his 22^nd career double.

UP NEXT
The series concludes Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Sophomore right-hander Emmet Sheehan (Darien, Conn.) goes to the mound for the Eagles.