Boston College sweeps UMass Lowell, 5-0

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It was a beautiful Mother’s Day at LeLacheur Park on Sunday. It would become an even better day for the Boston College Eagles (25-26). Their 5-game season-ending road trip is off to a 2-0 start, thanks to a 5-0 victory over the UMass Lowell River Hawks (17-32). BC took all four games played between the two schools this season. On Sunday, three Eagles pitchers combined on a 6-hit shutout, in which they would allow zero walks.

River Hawks head coach Nick Barese called it “a terrible game.” One reason for that, though, was his lineup’s inability to do anything with the bat. Of the 27 outs they would commit, 16 were fly balls or pop-outs. They were swinging early in the count all game long, and it was not working. Not making adjustments as the game progressed made it much easier for Boston College pitchers to get UML hitters out.

As Barese said afterwards, “We have to play better baseball.” While that is true, time is starting to run out for this team. They will finish the season on a 4-game road trip that begins on Tuesday at Rhode Island and ends at NJIT next Saturday. If UMass Lowell wants to play postseason baseball, they need wins now.

Brandon Holland (3-6) got the start for the River Hawks. He was on a pitch count, as Barese wanted him ready for the series against the Highlanders. He went the first three innings, throwing 55 pitches, 35 of them for strikes. The only trouble he got into was in the very first inning. Eagles CF, Josiah Ragsdale, hit a one-out single to center field, then stole both second and third base to put himself in scoring position. After Holland got Jack Toomey to strike out, he would walk cleanup hitter Kyle Wolff. With #5 hitter Gunner Johnson at the plate, the Eagles tried to steal a run. It would work as Wolff was tagged out on a fielder’s choice as BC tried to execute a double steal. Ragsdale would score the game’s first run to give BC a 1-0 lead.

Brady Miller (4-1) got the ball for head coach Todd Inerdonato. In his five innings of work, he allowed just four hits, and only two River Hawks batters would get into scoring position. Carlos Martinez reached third base after a one-out double in the second, and he would advance to third on another fly out but stay right there. Ryan Strand smacked a two-out double in the fourth, but went no further as Branden Cali, the next hitter, popped out to second base.

The game stayed 1-0 into the seventh, and that was when Boston College broke the game open thanks to a one-out bases-loaded single to right field by PH Colin Larson off Andres Hulfachor, who came on in relief of Jake LeFrancois, who started the inning for UML. The base hit would score both Johnson and Vinnie Ciminini to give BC a 3-0 lead. They would add single runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to make it a final score of 5-0 Eagles.

The Eagles also got nice bullpen work from Gavin Soares, who picked up his first save of the year by going three innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. He retired nine of the ten hitters he faced.

If you are a River Hawks fan, the math does not look good at the moment. They are tied with UMBC for the last spot in the AE baseball postseason tournament. They are a game back of UAlbany for fifth place in the league. It will come down to the final weekend for these teams as they battle for two spots. The River Hawks need to take next week’s series from NJIT, and hope for some help from either Bryant, who plays UMBC on the road, or from Binghamton, who will host UAlbany. It is not the position this team wants to be in, but it is where they find themselves. On Tuesday, they will be looking to snap a six-game losing streak on top of everything else.