Eagles Even Series with No. 16 Virginia with Unconventional Walk-Off

Saturday, April 9

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

1:30 PM

Boston College

15-11, 4-8

Virginia

20-13, 7-7

Virginia

Boston College

Photo by: John Quackenbos

Eagles Even Series with No. 16 Virginia with Unconventional Walk-Off

April 09, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

Dunn tied a career-high five strikeouts in first start of 2016

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Boston College 3, No. 16 Virginia 2
Records: Virginia (20-13, 7-7 ACC) at Boston College (15-11, 4-8 ACC)
Location: Eddie Pellagrini Diamond at Commander Shea Field in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Series: The series is tied at 1-1

BC HIGHLIGHTS

Junior right-hander Justin Dunn made his first start of the season and allowed just two hits over five scoreless innings. He walked one and he tied a career high with five strikeouts.
Senior Jesse Adams picked up his third win of the season, throwing the final 2.1 innings. He gave up just one hit and one walk and recorded two strikeouts. He has appeared in 68 career games to tie for 10^th in BC record books.
Junior Nick Sciortino led the way at the plate for the Eagles with a 2-for-4 day. Behind the dish, he threw out his eighth baserunner of the season.
Junior Chris Balogh tallied a two-out single in the ninth to put the winning run on base. In his two appearances against Virginia, both as a pinch hitter, he is 1-for-1 with a walk.
Senior Joe Cronin notched an RBI double and drew a walk. With 43 career doubles, he is tied for ninth in BC record books and his 95 career walks is tied for fifth all-time. He also landed in the No. 10 spot on BC's list for career at bat with 618.

KEY PLAY
With the scored knotted at two and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Eagles capitalized on two Virginia errors to plate the winning run.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Eagles got on the board early, scoring two in the first. Palomaki drew a walk to start the game and senior Joe Cronin plated him with a double off the wall in left center. Junior Michael Strem moved Cronin to third with a sacrifice bunt and sophomore Donovan Casey brought him in with sac fly to right. Two more Eagles got aboard on a walk and single by Sciortino, but a grounder to third ended the scoring threat.
The Cavaliers tied the game in the sixth with sophomore RHP Brian Rapp on the mound. Adam Haseley drew a walk and Ernie Clement reached on an error. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Matt Thaiss plated Haseley with a groundout to second. Pavin Smith tied the game with a double down the right-field line before Rapp got two strikeouts looking to end the inning.
The Eagles won the game in the bottom of the ninth as Balogh tallied a pinch-hit single up the middle. Freshman Dominic Hardaway came in to pinch run and on his attempt to steal second, Virginia catcher Thaiss' throw skipped past the bag, allowing Hardaway to reach third. Junior Johnny Adams struck out swinging, but the ball hit the dirt and he hustled down the line. Thaiss' throw to first went wide, allowing Hardaway to score the winning run.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

The victory marked the first home win for Boston College.
It was the first walk-off victory for the Eagles since the final game of the 2015 season against Notre Dame on May 15 when Nick Colucci hit a walk-off single to defeat the Irish, 6-5, in 10 innings.
In the two games with Virginia, the BC pitching staff has allowed just one earned run. In the last three ACC games, BC has given up just three earned runs.
Palomaki was 1-for-3 on the day with a walk. He has tallied at least one hit in 17 of the Eagles' 26 games and reached base in 21 games.
BC is now 3-6 against top-25 team in 2016.
The win was the third for the Eagles against the Cavaliers in Chestnut Hill and the fourth in the all-time series. The last time UVA was at BC was in 2011 they were No. 1 team in the nation, and the Eagles won the final game of the series, 5-4, in 11 innings.
The Eagles scored two runs in the first inning to end a 19-inning scoreless streak.

UP NEXT
The Eagles and Cavaliers play the rubber match on Sunday, April 10 at 1 p.m. at Pellagrini Diamond.