Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Kait Devir
BC's Science Of Hitting Mashes Past Holy Cross
March 18, 2021 | Baseball, #ForBoston Files
It wasn't the prettiest baseball game, but BC's hitters got the job done...again.
Wednesday afternoon's game between Boston College and Holy Cross will hardly go down in history as a baseball masterpiece. It was a marathon spanning four-plus hours at the Harrington Athletics Village, and a total of 16 pitchers - partially by design - slogged through 30 runs and 37 hits allowed. Both teams punished the ball over the course of the afternoon and early evening, with at least one team scoring multiple runs in eight different half-innings, and only one full frame remained unsullied by a run by the game's end.
It was the kind of midweek game that would have tripped the No. 21 Eagles in past years. Holy Cross exploded out of the gates with a run in the first and a pair in the second and didn't hide its intention to score an upset over its regional rival in its opening game. BC handed the ball to a staff start and worked through the struggles, but the offense's response blew the game into another dimension with 12 runs in the fourth through sixth innings as the Eagles avoided a banana peel game with an 18-12 victory.
"This game was really important for all of us," said graduate student infielder Brian Dempsey. "I think we really needed to see some more at-bats before (this weekend series against North Carolina). Louisville is a really good ball club, but I think it was really big for us to come in here and get the (win)."
Dempsey went 3-for-4 from the leadoff slot on Wednesday and more than set the table for the Eagles' offense. He turned over the scoreboard with an RBI single in the fourth and blew it open to a 9-3 lead in the fifth with a bases-clearing, bases-loaded triple to right, and he wasn't retired after a fly-out in the bottom of the first. It was his sixth multi-hit game of the season and his second with three hits, and it continued the reversal of his first two, hitless games at Louisville with his second straight game with at least two hits and a run scored.
"I think hitting in the four hole was a little new to me," Dempsey said. "I think I tried to get a little more aggressive than I had to be at times, and I think getting back into the leadoff spot (against Louisville), I'm able to be the player I'm used to being - kind of gritty, just trying to get on base for guys. That's really my role."
Dempsey's comfort was obvious and laid a backbeat for the orchestra that followed him. Both Sal Frelick and Luke Gold had two hits with four RBIs combined, and Vince Cimini reset the lineup with a four-hit performance against the Crusaders. It flowed into Cameron Leary's four-RBI day and Chris Galland, who in turn moved the lineup back to Dempsey with Dante Baldelli to notch four hits and another seven RBIs.
Cimini in particular benefitted from the format. He was almost a second lead-off hitter after Gold and Jack Cunningham, and he was never retired by Holy Cross' pitching. It was a breakout performance after he earned starts against the Cardinals in place of the injured Cody Morissette, and it more than doubled his previous career hit load after he only saw action in five games in his first season.
"The report was very detailed (on Wednesday)," Cimini said, "but in scenarios where there's a younger guy on the mound, or for example a couple of freshmen, we wouldn't have any reports. You just have to talk to guys who have seen him earlier in the evening, and talking to those guys when they come off the field. We also talk to (assistant coach John Murphy) as well in between at-bats."
Murphy's name is the increasing link between the hitters' performances. The former and current assistant coach started with BC as a volunteer assistant in 2016 and 2017, but returned to Chestnut Hill after a one-year interim break to serve as an assistant at Army West Point. He is one of the team's primary recruiters, and his work with hitters doubles through his duties as the team's video analysis coordinator.
A rising star in the Northeast coaching ranks, he helped guide the Eagles to a .289 batting average in 2019 before last year's national breakout. In his only year away from Birdball, he helped former BC pitching coach Jim Foster advance Army's program to the NCAA Tournament with a Patriot League championship. The Black Knights hit .263 that year - second in the conference - and scored a league-high 331 runs.
"Murph does such a good job with those hitters," head coach Mike Gambino said. "It's everything from keeping their mechanics sound to preparing them with scouting reports and hit plans during a game (or) making adjustments during the game. The thing about hitting is that everybody sort of knows you're going to get off track. It just will because hitting is hard, and we're lucky to have Murph here keeping them on track as much as possible and back on track when they get off."
It has BC's hitters cruising through the early part of the season. The Eagles are hitting .278 through their first 15 games and are the sixth-best offense in the ACC while easily ranking inside the top-third of Division I. It's a devastating combination of power and patience that ranks both inside the top-100 in hits and the top-50 in walks. The number of extra base hits per game seat the Eagles among the best Power Five teams - and best overall - in the nation.
Cimini's outburst upped his average to .462 and tied him for second-best in the league with Notre Dame's Jared Miller even though he didn't regularly start prior to Morissette's absence. Sal Frelick's .400 average is slightly behind him in 12th in the league and makes BC one of only four teams in the league with two hitters over the coveted mark.
Seven of the Eagles' 18 hits went for extra bases on Wednesday and included five doubles to go along with Dempsey's triple and Luke Gold's two-run homer in the bottom of the first. They came off 10 different Holy Cross pitchers and chased five different arms with less than an inning thrown. Seven pitchers gave up at least one run with all except for one charged with at least one earned run. Three Crusaders gave up at least three runs with two surrendering four.
"It's harder (to see different pitchers)," Dempsey said, "but Murph and a lot of our guys here do an awesome job report. Before we get to (the plate), we know what a guy throws, and we talk to each other after a guy hits to say what he has and what it looks like, compared to guys we've seen in the past. You have to rely on each other a little bit more during the midweek than you do on the weekend because on a weekend, you're seeing the guy three or four times in a game."
The No. 21 Eagles return to the diamond this weekend with their ACC home opener against North Carolina. Friday's game is slated for a 4 p.m. start on the ACC Network with Saturday and Sunday scheduled for 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively on the ACC Network Extra.
It was the kind of midweek game that would have tripped the No. 21 Eagles in past years. Holy Cross exploded out of the gates with a run in the first and a pair in the second and didn't hide its intention to score an upset over its regional rival in its opening game. BC handed the ball to a staff start and worked through the struggles, but the offense's response blew the game into another dimension with 12 runs in the fourth through sixth innings as the Eagles avoided a banana peel game with an 18-12 victory.
"This game was really important for all of us," said graduate student infielder Brian Dempsey. "I think we really needed to see some more at-bats before (this weekend series against North Carolina). Louisville is a really good ball club, but I think it was really big for us to come in here and get the (win)."
Dempsey went 3-for-4 from the leadoff slot on Wednesday and more than set the table for the Eagles' offense. He turned over the scoreboard with an RBI single in the fourth and blew it open to a 9-3 lead in the fifth with a bases-clearing, bases-loaded triple to right, and he wasn't retired after a fly-out in the bottom of the first. It was his sixth multi-hit game of the season and his second with three hits, and it continued the reversal of his first two, hitless games at Louisville with his second straight game with at least two hits and a run scored.
"I think hitting in the four hole was a little new to me," Dempsey said. "I think I tried to get a little more aggressive than I had to be at times, and I think getting back into the leadoff spot (against Louisville), I'm able to be the player I'm used to being - kind of gritty, just trying to get on base for guys. That's really my role."
Dempsey's comfort was obvious and laid a backbeat for the orchestra that followed him. Both Sal Frelick and Luke Gold had two hits with four RBIs combined, and Vince Cimini reset the lineup with a four-hit performance against the Crusaders. It flowed into Cameron Leary's four-RBI day and Chris Galland, who in turn moved the lineup back to Dempsey with Dante Baldelli to notch four hits and another seven RBIs.
Cimini in particular benefitted from the format. He was almost a second lead-off hitter after Gold and Jack Cunningham, and he was never retired by Holy Cross' pitching. It was a breakout performance after he earned starts against the Cardinals in place of the injured Cody Morissette, and it more than doubled his previous career hit load after he only saw action in five games in his first season.
"The report was very detailed (on Wednesday)," Cimini said, "but in scenarios where there's a younger guy on the mound, or for example a couple of freshmen, we wouldn't have any reports. You just have to talk to guys who have seen him earlier in the evening, and talking to those guys when they come off the field. We also talk to (assistant coach John Murphy) as well in between at-bats."
Murphy's name is the increasing link between the hitters' performances. The former and current assistant coach started with BC as a volunteer assistant in 2016 and 2017, but returned to Chestnut Hill after a one-year interim break to serve as an assistant at Army West Point. He is one of the team's primary recruiters, and his work with hitters doubles through his duties as the team's video analysis coordinator.
A rising star in the Northeast coaching ranks, he helped guide the Eagles to a .289 batting average in 2019 before last year's national breakout. In his only year away from Birdball, he helped former BC pitching coach Jim Foster advance Army's program to the NCAA Tournament with a Patriot League championship. The Black Knights hit .263 that year - second in the conference - and scored a league-high 331 runs.
"Murph does such a good job with those hitters," head coach Mike Gambino said. "It's everything from keeping their mechanics sound to preparing them with scouting reports and hit plans during a game (or) making adjustments during the game. The thing about hitting is that everybody sort of knows you're going to get off track. It just will because hitting is hard, and we're lucky to have Murph here keeping them on track as much as possible and back on track when they get off."
It has BC's hitters cruising through the early part of the season. The Eagles are hitting .278 through their first 15 games and are the sixth-best offense in the ACC while easily ranking inside the top-third of Division I. It's a devastating combination of power and patience that ranks both inside the top-100 in hits and the top-50 in walks. The number of extra base hits per game seat the Eagles among the best Power Five teams - and best overall - in the nation.
Cimini's outburst upped his average to .462 and tied him for second-best in the league with Notre Dame's Jared Miller even though he didn't regularly start prior to Morissette's absence. Sal Frelick's .400 average is slightly behind him in 12th in the league and makes BC one of only four teams in the league with two hitters over the coveted mark.
Seven of the Eagles' 18 hits went for extra bases on Wednesday and included five doubles to go along with Dempsey's triple and Luke Gold's two-run homer in the bottom of the first. They came off 10 different Holy Cross pitchers and chased five different arms with less than an inning thrown. Seven pitchers gave up at least one run with all except for one charged with at least one earned run. Three Crusaders gave up at least three runs with two surrendering four.
"It's harder (to see different pitchers)," Dempsey said, "but Murph and a lot of our guys here do an awesome job report. Before we get to (the plate), we know what a guy throws, and we talk to each other after a guy hits to say what he has and what it looks like, compared to guys we've seen in the past. You have to rely on each other a little bit more during the midweek than you do on the weekend because on a weekend, you're seeing the guy three or four times in a game."
The No. 21 Eagles return to the diamond this weekend with their ACC home opener against North Carolina. Friday's game is slated for a 4 p.m. start on the ACC Network with Saturday and Sunday scheduled for 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively on the ACC Network Extra.
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