Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Duke
Big Innings Lead to BC Win against Duke, 11-6
April 06, 2008 | Baseball
April 6, 2008
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Boston College tallied 13 hits and had four players with multi-hit games to defeat Duke, 11-6, on Sunday afternoon at Commander Shea Field. With the win, the Eagles swept the three-game series against the Blue Devils after taking both games of a doubleheader on Saturday. BC is now 16-14 overall, 5-10 in the ACC, while Duke is 21-10, 4-10 in ACC play.
Tony Sanchez led the Eagles 13-hit attack with three singles in five plate appearances. The sophomore catcher added a run scored and a RBI on the afternoon.
Garret Smith, Sam Shaughnessy and John Spatola each went 2-for-4 in the victory. Smith collected a double and two RBI. Shaughnessy tripled and added two RBI and Spatola chipped in with a RBI triple.
Eric Campbell and Mickey Wiswall each added a double, two runs scored and two RBI.
BC starter James MacDonald (3-4) worked the first five innings to register his third win of the season, his first in ACC competition. The junior did not allow an earned run and struck out four.
Michael Belfiore pitched the final two innings to earn his team-high third save of the season.
Duke scored the first run of the game without the use of a hit. Leadoff hitter Gabriel Saade walked to start the game. He advanced to third on a failed pickoff which included two errors and would score on a RBI ground out from Alex Hassan.
In the bottom of the third, BC exploded for five runs on five hits off Duke starter Grant Monroe (4-2). Barry Butera started the rally with a double to right-center field. Butera would score on a Blue Devils' error. After Sanchez singled to put runners on the corners, Campbell doubled to right field to plate Belfiore. Wiswall followed with a two-run double to right and would later score on a double from Smith.
The Eagles tacked on three more runs in the fifth to make the score, 8-1. Shaughnessy and Spatola hit back-to-back two-out triples, which plated three runs total, and extended the BC lead to seven runs.
Duke scored two runs in the sixth and seven innings to make the score 8-5.
BC pulled away in the bottom of the eighth with three more runs. Belfiore was hit by a pitch with the bases load to plate the first run of the inning. Sanchez followed with a RBI single to left. Campbell hit a sac fly to center to score Belfiore and give the Eagles an 11-5 lead.
Duke tacked on a run in the ninth to round out the scoring for the Blue Devils.
The Eagles are back on the diamond on Tuesday against URI in Kingston, R.I., at 3:30 p.m.
