Win and In; Eagles Host Irish With Postseason in Their Sights

WEEKEND PITCHING MATCH-UPS

Thursday, 7 p.m. (ACCNE): LHP-Dan Metzdorf (6-2, 2.74) vs. RHP-Cameron Junker (3-3, 3.22)
Friday, 7 p.m. (ACCNE): RHP-Mason Pelio (4-3, 3.71) vs. LHP-Tommy Sheehan (5-5, 4.06)
Saturday, Noon (ACCNE): TBA vs. TBA

BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES

Record: 27-25 (10-17 ACC)
Coach: Mike Gambino
Career Record/Years: 204-273/9
Rank: NR RPI: 60

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH

Record: 23-26 (12-15 ACC)
Coach: Mik Aoki
Career Record/Years: 448-497-2/18
Rank: NR RPI: 89

The Boston College baseball team wraps up its 2019 regular season against Notre Dame beginning Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m. The Eagles currently hold the No. 12 spot in the ACC standings and need one win to clinch their spot in next week's ACC Championship. The entire series will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.

ABOUT THE EAGLES

Boston College has won four of five games, including a road series at Virginia Tech, to enter the weekend at 27-25 overall and 10-17 in the ACC. Senior left-handed pitcher Dan Metzdorf anchors the Eagles pitching staff with a 6-2 record, 2.74 earned run average and 61 strikeouts in 65.2 innings. Senior third baseman and leadoff hitter Jake Alu is hitting .360 with 45 runs scored and 16 doubles. Freshman second baseman Cody Morissette leads BC in doubles and RBI at 18 and 35, respectively, while hitting .319. Alu and Morissette have started all 52 games on the infield along with junior shortstop Brian Dempsey, who is a .305 hitter with 34 RBI and 10 stolen bases. As a team, BC has turned an ACC-leading 47 double plays, which ranks 20th in the country.

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH

Notre Dame has won four in a row, all in non-conference, to improve to 23-26 overall and sits at 12-15 in the ACC; two games ahead of BC for 11th in the league. The Fighting Irish are hitting .245 as a team and led by center fielder and leadoff hitter Spencer Myers at .298 with 41 runs and 18 steals. Third baseman Niko Kavadas is hitting .264 and has slugged 11 of ND's 29 home runs with 38 RBI, which is tied for the team lead with right fielder Eric Gilgenbach, who has hit eight home runs. Lefty Tommy Sheehan throws in the Friday night role with a 5-5 record, 4.06 ERA and a team-high 84.1 innings pitched.

POSTSEASON SCENARIO

Boston College leads Virginia Tech by two games in the ACC standings with three to play and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, due to winning the series in Blacksburg this month. In order to return to their third ACC tournament in four seasons, the Eagles need to win one game against Notre Dame or the Hokies to lose one game to Virginia this weekend.

2009 TEAM REUNION

Boston College welcomes back the 2009 team to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Eagles reaching the NCAA Regionals. Current Notre Dame head coach Mik Aoki led BC to a 34-26 record on the season and 13-15 in the ACC; qualifying for the conference tournament on the final weekend of the season with a 3-1 win over No. 4 North Carolina. The Eagles earned the three-seed in the Austin Regional and following an 8-7 win over Texas State engaged in the longest game in college baseball history. BC lost to Texas, 3-2, in 25 innings.

SCORING STREAK

In the highest scoring game in Harrington Athletics Village history and the highest offensive output for Boston College since 2015, the Eagles defeated Maine (5/14), 19-16. The Eagles scored in all eight turns at-bat. It marked the longest such streak on record. BC scored in each of the first six innings vs. Quinnipiac (4/10) in an 11-5 win. That streak was the longest since scoring in each inning between the second and eighth in a 9-5 win at Dartmouth (4/9/13). The Eagles also scored in seven consecutive innings in an 11-3 win over Bryant (4/7/10) and six straight innings in a 12-5, seven-inning game vs. Maryland Eastern Shore (5/13/07).

GALLAND SPRINTS TO 100 CAREER HITS

Speedy outfielder Chris Galland singled to left in the seventh at URI (4/30) for his second hit of the day and 100th of his career. The milestone hit came in his 94th career game as he became the seventh BC player on record (2004-present) to pick up his 100th career hit by his sophomore season. Galland is the first sophomore to record 100 hits since former teammate Jake Palomaki, who did so in his 101st career game in 2016. He is tied for the fourth fastest to 100 hits on record. Tony Sanchez holds the record for most hits (119) in 100 career games; set in 2008 as a sophomore. Galland sits at 106 hits in 99 career games and with one hit on Thursday would tie Donovan Casey and Michael Belfiore for fourth most hits through 100 games.

RACE TOWARD THE RECORD BOOK

Senior RHP Thomas Lane became BC's single-season record-holder for pitching appearances in a season at Virginia Tech (5/6) in his 33rd game; passing Nate Bayuk, who set the record of 32 in 2009. Freshman outfielder Sal Frelick is tied for the Eagles' record in the ACC era for on-base percentage at .447 with Jake Palomaki (2015). Junior shortstop Brian Dempsey is one sacrifice-fly away from tying Ryan Leahy (2004) for the single-season record at seven. At VT (5/4), senior LHP Dan Metzdorf cracked the top-10 all-time at BC in innings pitched (ninth - 223.2) and strikeouts (10th - 180). He is 4.1 innings behind Jacob Stevens (2016-18) for eighth and one strikeout behind Mark Sullivan (1999-02) for ninth. Matt Gill's six saves are tied for the sixth most in a season with Garrett Smith (2011) and Jesse Adams (2016). One more team save breaks the BC record of 14 set in 2008 and 2016.