Top-15 Match-Up Between Boston College and Louisville on Deck

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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — No. 13 Boston College is back on the road for its third consecutive road series at a top-25 opponent when it visits No. 15 Louisville. The top-15 series begins Friday, March 12 at 6 p.m. All three games will be streamed on ACCNX.

About the Eagles…
BC is 9-2 overall, 2-1 in the ACC, and peaks in the national polls at No. 13 by Baseball America following a series win at No. 25 Auburn of the SEC. Junior center fielder Sal Frelick, the reigning ACC Player of the Week, is hitting a team-high .478 with 16 runs scored and four home runs. Sophomore second baseman Luke Gold is second at .386 with a league-leading 18 RBI and team-high five home runs. Frelick and Gold have accounted for half of the Eagles’ 18 home runs. With a five-home run game against Maine (3/9), BC surpassed its 2018 season total of 14 home runs, which came over the course of a 49-game season. The Eagles turn to junior right-hander Mason Pelio on Friday night. He is 2-1 with a 3.68 earned run average following 5.2-scoreless innings at Auburn. Graduate lefty Joey Walsh anchors the bullpen with a 3.46 ERA, three saves, and 15 strikeouts in 13 innings, including one spot-start.

Scouting the Cardinals…
Louisville is ranked No. 15 by Baseball America and peaks at No. 10 by D1Baseball.com. The Cardinals are 8-4 overall and 1-2 in the ACC after a series at Georgia Tech last week. Catcher Henry Davis is hitting .381 with 14 RBI and three home runs. Left fielder Cameron Masterman is hitting .378 with 10 RBI and 10 walks. Left-handed pitcher Michael Kirian gets the ball on Friday night. He is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA in three games, including two starts, totaling 11 innings.

All-Time vs. The Ville…
Louisville leads the all-time series with Boston College, 11-5. The Eagles have won each of the last two games and three of the last five dating back to the series finale in Brighton in 2018. The two sides first met in 2015 during the Cardinals’ first season in the ACC. Louisville has been ranked in the top-15 in 13 of 16 games in series history.

Last Time They Met…
Boston College upset top-seed Louisville, 5-1, to win Pool A of the ACC Championship in Durham on May 22, 2019, to advance to the semifinals. Lefty Dan Metzdorf dominated on the mound in a complete-game effort. He allowed one unearned run on three hits and four walks to go with seven strikeouts. BC broke a scoreless tie with a two-out, two-run single by Jake Alu in the fourth. Alu added an RBI-double in the eighth to put the game at its final score. Kirian made a relief appearance for the Cardinals; surrendering two unearned runs on two hits and a walk in the seventh.

Inside The Polls…
The Eagles are in the national polls for the second week in a row; ranking No. 13 in the Baseball America top-25. BC is ranked for the first time since peaking at No. 16 in the final ranking of 2016 following a Super Regional appearance. BC’s ranking on March 1 marked just the second in-season ranking for the Eagles, who were No. 22 by Collegiate Baseball News on March 14, 2016, with a 12-3 record; the first ranking in program history. BC’s current ranking is the highest in program history and the highest for a New England program since Connecticut (No. 14 – 2011 final poll).

Best Starts in BC History…
Boston College is 9-2 to start the season, matching its best 11-game mark to begin a season; having previously started 2016 at 9-2. On three other occasions, the Eagles won eight of their first 11, including 2009, 2006, and 1991.