Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Virginia Tech
Baseball Opens Series Against Virginia Tech With 5-3 Win
March 25, 2011 | Baseball
March 25, 2011
KINGSTON, R.I. - Junior Anthony Melchionda hit a two-run homer and eight different pitchers shut out Virginia Tech for eight innings as the Boston College baseball team beat the Hokies in the series opener, 5-3, at Bill Beck Field at the University of Rhode Island.
The game was played at URI due to field conditions at Eddie Pellagrini Diamond at Commander Shea Field.
The pitching staff started the game by throwing 6.1 no-hit innings and retired 14-straight batters from the second to the seventh innings. The Eagles faced the minimum number of batters from the third to the seventh. The Hokies were only able to get two men on second base until the ninth inning.
Junior Andrew Lawrence picked up the win on the mound after exiting the game with the lead in the first inning. Senior Garret Smith earned his fourth save of the season. Sophomore Hunter Gordon threw 2.0 perfect innings early in the game and senior Geoff Oxley made his first appearance since his Tommy John surgery last May. He hit two batters in the second inning but got out unscathed.
Melchionda drove in the first three BC (9-10, 3-4 ACC) runs of the game. He hit his first home run of the season and went on to go 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Smith went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI while junior Marc Perdios was 2-for-3 with a two-bagger. Sophomore Matt Watson drove in the other run.
Melchionda gave the Eagles an early lead in the first when he went the opposite way with a 2-1 pitch and took it over the wall in right for a two-run homer. Lawrence drew a one-out walk before him to get on base.
BC added a run in the third to build a three-run advantage. Freshman Tom Bourdon led off with an infield single and sophomore Brad Zapenas followed up with one through the left side to put men on first and second. Melchionda took the first pitch of his at-bat up the middle for an RBI single to make it a 3-0 lead.
The BC bullpen and Virginia Tech's Joe Mantiply then put up zeros until the bottom of the eighth when the Eagles got two runs they would need. Lawrence and Melchionda started the inning with singles and Watson pulled a pitch down the first base line for an RBI base hit. Perdios walked to load the bases with nobody out but BC could only get one more run on a fielder's choice to push the lead to 5-0.
The Hokies finally broke through in the bottom of the ninth and got three runs. Ronnie Shaban and Tim Smalling put together consecutive singles with one out and then Andrew Rash hit an RBI single to break up the shutout. Michael Seaborn walked to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate and then a fielder's choice brought in a run but gave BC two outs. An infield single scored another run and put the tying run on base but Smith slammed the door shut.
Mantiply threw 7.0-plus innings for Virginia Tech (13-11, 0-7) and allowed five runs on 11 hits. Smalling was the only Hokie with two hits on the day.
The second game of the series is Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Bill Beck Field.
