ACC Baseball Championship Begins Tuesday

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GAMEDAY INFO

Match-Up: No. 20 Boston College (34-17, 16-14 ACC) vs. Virginia Tech (30-21, 12-17 ACC)

Ballpark: Durham Bulls Athletic Park • Durham, N.C.

Watch/Stream: ACC Network/WatchESPN

Live Stats: bc.statbroadcast.com

PITCHING MATCH-UP

Tuesday, 11 a.m.: RHP Eric Schroeder (5-4, 6.04) vs. LHP Jonah Hurney (3-2, 7.53)

ACC Network (https://es.pn/43iP2JZ)

ABOUT THE EAGLES

Boston College completed the regular season 34-17 overall and 16-14 in the ACC to earn the six seed in this week’s ACC Championship; the highest ever in program history. The Eagles entered the final weekend of play tied for seventh with Notre Dame and overcame a game-one defeat to the Irish last week to claim the series and secure six place and a spot in Pool C against three-seed Clemson and 10-seed Virginia Tech. Senior center fielder and leadoff hitter Barry Walsh leads BC with a .314 batting average, a .411 on-base percentage, and 13 stolen bases. Junior first baseman Joe Vetrano anchors the middle of the order with a .306 average and .633 slugging percentage on 18 home runs and 10 doubles to go with 51 RBI. Sophomore right-hander Eric Schroeder goes to the mound on Tuesday against the Hokies. He is 5-4 with a 6.04 earned run average in 50.2 innings across 21 games, which includes two starts.

REGULAR SEASON RECAP

At 34-17, Boston College enters the postseason with the best win percentage in program history at .667; besting the mark set by the 37-20, 2005 team at .649. By winning their final two games of the regular season, the Eagles matched the program’s best record through 51 games, also set by the 2005 team in its final year as a member of the Big East. The 2005 team also owns the program record for wins with 37.

THE BC-VT SERIES

Boston College trails the all-time series against Virginia Tech, 25-32. The series began in 2001 when the Hokies became a full-fledged member of the Big East. The Eagles swept the final series as Big East opponents in 2004 and followed Virginia Tech to the ACC a year later; sweeping a 2006 series in Blacksburg.

Last Time They Met: BC bounced back from a 13-3 defeat in its ACC opener in Blacksburg to sweep a Saturday doubleheader by scores of 8-5 and 7-3. After having their 10-game win streak snapped in game one, the Eagles responded by evening the series behind 5.2 innings from Chris Flynn and a 2-for-4 game with a three-run homer from Cameron Leary. Eric Schroeder turned in four-shutout innings of relief to win the rubber match and Travis Honeyman hit a grand slam in the seventh to build on a one-run lead.

Postseason History: The only prior postseason meeting between the two programs was the opening game of the 2002 Big East Tournament in Bridgewater, N.J. Virginia Tech won 2-1. Future big leaguers and first-round picks Chris Lambert (BC) and Joe Saunders (VT) dominated the day with Saunders going the distance.

Coaching Connection: BC head coach Mike Gambino served as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech from 2007-10 prior to returning to his alma mater as head coach.

RÉSUMÉ NOTES

• The Eagles enter the postseason with the No. 14 RPI in the nation and No. 30 strength of schedule.

• BC’s 21 road/neutral wins tied for the most in the Power 5. Seven of the Eagles’ road/neutral wins have come against Q1 opponents; the most in the country.

• BC is the only program in the country with 12-plus Q1 wins (14) and 12-plus road wins (18).

• The Eagles first 18 games were played away from home as they amassed a 14-4 record over that stretch.

• A Northeast school last hosted an NCAA Regional on campus in 1991 when three-seed Maine hosted the Northeast Regional.

YEAR-OVER-YEAR IMPROVEMENT

Through the regular season, Boston College improved its win percentage by +.309 from 2022 (.358) to 2023 (.667). It marks the second-highest jump in regular season win percentage across Division I this season behind Princeton at +.336. Boston College’s 16-14 ACC record also accounted for the greatest turnaround in the league from 2022 with an 11-win improvement from the Eagles’ 5-25 mark a year ago.

BURNS IS DIFFERENT

Graduate catcher Peter Burns is the only player on BC’s roster with ACC Championship experience. As a freshman in 2019, he caught all 28 innings of the Eagles’ tournament run, including an 11-inning win over Clemson. He went 2-for-10 with two runs, two RBI, three walks and a .385 OBP. Burns earned his fourth appearance on the Buster Posey Award Watch List this season. With his start at Fenway Park against Notre Dame (5/19), Burns overtook Tony Sanchez, the fourth overall pick of the 2009 draft, for the most starts at catcher on record at Boston College with 135.

LEAVING THE YARD

Joe Vetrano has homered 18 times this season and Cameron Leary has gone up top for 10 home runs. The duo is third and fifth all-time in Boston College history with 31 and 28 career home runs, respectively. Chris Shaw (2013-15) was the only BC player to surpass 20 career home runs for the Eagles between 2011 and 2022. Vetrano’s 18 home runs on the season are the most in the BBCOR era (2011-present) and third most all-time in a single season.