Photo by: Joe Sullivan
Tournament Dreams Still Dancing For Birdball
April 24, 2025 | Baseball, #ForBoston Files
ALS Awareness weekend arrives in Boston with tons on the line.
The realization started almost immediately after Jack Toomey crossed home plate. Vince Cimini's topped ground ball with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning had trickled, bounced and bled down the third base line before a charging Brandon Fish collected into his forehand glove. The third baseman had an opportunity to step on his own bag and throw to first in an attempt to end the bottom of the ninth inning in a tie game, but he instead chose to throw home and prevent Boston College's right fielder from crossing the plate with a game-winning run.
His throw sailed high on catcher Jake Fitzgibbons, and confusion reigned as Toomey crossed the dish with the apparent game-winning run. Everyone turned to home plate umpire Connor Hoagland, who took an extra second to survey the situation. He opened his arms and indicated safe, but the celebration of maroon-colored jerseys sprinting after Cimini would have been enough to offer an explanation for what happened.
Boston College's baseball program led UMass-Lowell, 3-2, when the ninth inning began but surrendered two runs in the top half of the inning. Toomey's run was Birdball's second of the bottom half, which in turn meant a walk-off, 5-4 win kept the Eagles' fledgling postseason tournament hopes above water for another day. A second midweek win was BC's fourth consecutive win, and with Miami and the ALS Awareness Game standing on the weekend horizon, the celebration felt more geared towards a mission to come than a mission accomplished.
"You look at what we've done over the past few weeks with playing Friday, Saturday, Sunday, off on Monday, play Tuesday and Wednesday, off on Thursday before Friday, Saturday Sunday," said head coach Todd Interdonato in a postgame media session from last week. "We've been on a one-day off [rotation] before playing every day over pretty much the last three weeks. We're in a rhythm now."
This year is likely going to cut one of the weirder divides in a college baseball community built on several different tournament metrics. Bracketologists predict anywhere between nine and 11 bids for an Atlantic Coast Conference featuring the nation's No. 2, No. 4 and No. 8-ranked teams, to which the SEC holds a large bulk of remaining national seeds in line for Super Regional host status. No. 3 Oregon State is technically an independent after the Pac-12 essentially dissolved during realignment, but the Big West's return to power status sent No. 12 UC-Irvine into the conversation after its 5-3 win over No. 15 UCLA.
The Anteaters and Coastal Carolina are the only two non-power teams alongside the Beavers, who hold a 32-7 record ahead of their weekend series against Oregon, in the top-15 of a live-based Ratings Performance Index, but therein lies a problem with balancing in-conference performances against a league's built-in ELO Ranking. The very existence of the metrics implies specific power opposite mid-major or more lightly-regarded leagues, but it's impossible to weigh a team's struggles in one area when its power conference resume is inherently stronger.
BC, for example, sits within a top-50 spot around programs like Arizona State, Mississippi State and Stanford in the live-based RPI, coming off a road series win at Wake Forest and consecutive home victories vs. Quinnipiac and UMass Lowell.Â
"You have to take every [piece of] information," said Interdonato after BC's loss to Connecticut via a 21-9 run-rule decision last week. "I'm not one of those guys that flushes things and moves on. I've never been like that throughout my whole career. At least for me personally, I go back and pour through the charts to see where things went [right or] wrong, and then I'll try to pull as much information out as I can, which we'll use moving forward."
The ACC, though, cuts a contrast against whatever issues exist within BC's resume. If the beginning of the season is included and weighted appropriately, the two road wins over Virginia easily outweigh the losses against the lower-situated teams because the Cavaliers were ranked ninth in the nation at the time. The Eagles later took a win from No. 17 North Carolina, which is now a top-8 team bidding for a national Super Regional seed, and they've only been swept on two occasions, one of which was against a top-ranked Florida State side. The losses at Louisville appear more aberration-based against a team locked into the NCAA Tournament, and holding the same number of league wins as Miami or Virginia, neither of which is significantly better than BC's overall record.
It's mind-boggling that BC isn't still minimally in the conversation for a national bid. The Eagles hold a win over Northeastern despite losing to the Huskies in the first round of the Beanpot, and the road run-rule win over Connecticut balances the home run-rule loss to the Huskies. Tuesday's win over Quinnipiac and Wednesday's win over UMass-Lowell didn't help improve anything within that standing, but midweek games against local competition are completely different for Northeast teams - a fact that's always been misunderstood by a southern-centric sport.
Conference weekends make it impossible to play non-conference games away from the localized region, and No. 69 Fairfield is the only New England team within the top-100 that didn't appear on BC's schedule. URI's wins over Dayton and Brown recently slid the Rams into the No. 98 spot, but Quinnipiac's loss dropped the Bobcats to no. 99 - nearly 50 spots ahead of No. 137 Yale, the next highest New England team.
The next week then becomes potentially transformative to a BC team that could force its way back into the national conversation. D1Baseball currently has the Hurricanes slotted as a No. 3 seed in the national tournament, but it's impossible to ignore BC's overall appeal with a favorable weekend and if it's able to claw its way out of the first round of the ACC Tournament's new format. While moving into ninth place would guarantee a 9 a.m. first pitch in the immediate days following a series in California, the three games ahead of this week's return to Fenway Park for the Beanpot Consolation game against No. 227 UMass are more must-win than usual. A Wednesday game against No. 178 Maine is equally critical, and repeat matchups against both Stanford and UMass-Lowell are setting a tone ahead of the ACC's trip to Charlotte.
Boston College and Miami will play a three-game series this weekend with matchups scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons. Friday is slated for 4 p.m. with Saturday scheduled for 12 p.m. at the Harrington Athletics Village before the series shifts to Fenway Park for the 13th annual ALS Awareness Game on Sunday afternoon. Both Saturday and Sunday are scheduled for national television with Saturday's game on ACC Network and Sunday's game on ESPNU. All three games are eligible for streaming coverage via ESPN's family of Internet and mobile device apps.
Tickets to the ALS Awareness Game can also be purchased by visiting the Boston Red Sox box office or online through redsox.com.
His throw sailed high on catcher Jake Fitzgibbons, and confusion reigned as Toomey crossed the dish with the apparent game-winning run. Everyone turned to home plate umpire Connor Hoagland, who took an extra second to survey the situation. He opened his arms and indicated safe, but the celebration of maroon-colored jerseys sprinting after Cimini would have been enough to offer an explanation for what happened.
Boston College's baseball program led UMass-Lowell, 3-2, when the ninth inning began but surrendered two runs in the top half of the inning. Toomey's run was Birdball's second of the bottom half, which in turn meant a walk-off, 5-4 win kept the Eagles' fledgling postseason tournament hopes above water for another day. A second midweek win was BC's fourth consecutive win, and with Miami and the ALS Awareness Game standing on the weekend horizon, the celebration felt more geared towards a mission to come than a mission accomplished.
"You look at what we've done over the past few weeks with playing Friday, Saturday, Sunday, off on Monday, play Tuesday and Wednesday, off on Thursday before Friday, Saturday Sunday," said head coach Todd Interdonato in a postgame media session from last week. "We've been on a one-day off [rotation] before playing every day over pretty much the last three weeks. We're in a rhythm now."
This year is likely going to cut one of the weirder divides in a college baseball community built on several different tournament metrics. Bracketologists predict anywhere between nine and 11 bids for an Atlantic Coast Conference featuring the nation's No. 2, No. 4 and No. 8-ranked teams, to which the SEC holds a large bulk of remaining national seeds in line for Super Regional host status. No. 3 Oregon State is technically an independent after the Pac-12 essentially dissolved during realignment, but the Big West's return to power status sent No. 12 UC-Irvine into the conversation after its 5-3 win over No. 15 UCLA.
The Anteaters and Coastal Carolina are the only two non-power teams alongside the Beavers, who hold a 32-7 record ahead of their weekend series against Oregon, in the top-15 of a live-based Ratings Performance Index, but therein lies a problem with balancing in-conference performances against a league's built-in ELO Ranking. The very existence of the metrics implies specific power opposite mid-major or more lightly-regarded leagues, but it's impossible to weigh a team's struggles in one area when its power conference resume is inherently stronger.
BC, for example, sits within a top-50 spot around programs like Arizona State, Mississippi State and Stanford in the live-based RPI, coming off a road series win at Wake Forest and consecutive home victories vs. Quinnipiac and UMass Lowell.Â
"You have to take every [piece of] information," said Interdonato after BC's loss to Connecticut via a 21-9 run-rule decision last week. "I'm not one of those guys that flushes things and moves on. I've never been like that throughout my whole career. At least for me personally, I go back and pour through the charts to see where things went [right or] wrong, and then I'll try to pull as much information out as I can, which we'll use moving forward."
The ACC, though, cuts a contrast against whatever issues exist within BC's resume. If the beginning of the season is included and weighted appropriately, the two road wins over Virginia easily outweigh the losses against the lower-situated teams because the Cavaliers were ranked ninth in the nation at the time. The Eagles later took a win from No. 17 North Carolina, which is now a top-8 team bidding for a national Super Regional seed, and they've only been swept on two occasions, one of which was against a top-ranked Florida State side. The losses at Louisville appear more aberration-based against a team locked into the NCAA Tournament, and holding the same number of league wins as Miami or Virginia, neither of which is significantly better than BC's overall record.
It's mind-boggling that BC isn't still minimally in the conversation for a national bid. The Eagles hold a win over Northeastern despite losing to the Huskies in the first round of the Beanpot, and the road run-rule win over Connecticut balances the home run-rule loss to the Huskies. Tuesday's win over Quinnipiac and Wednesday's win over UMass-Lowell didn't help improve anything within that standing, but midweek games against local competition are completely different for Northeast teams - a fact that's always been misunderstood by a southern-centric sport.
Conference weekends make it impossible to play non-conference games away from the localized region, and No. 69 Fairfield is the only New England team within the top-100 that didn't appear on BC's schedule. URI's wins over Dayton and Brown recently slid the Rams into the No. 98 spot, but Quinnipiac's loss dropped the Bobcats to no. 99 - nearly 50 spots ahead of No. 137 Yale, the next highest New England team.
The next week then becomes potentially transformative to a BC team that could force its way back into the national conversation. D1Baseball currently has the Hurricanes slotted as a No. 3 seed in the national tournament, but it's impossible to ignore BC's overall appeal with a favorable weekend and if it's able to claw its way out of the first round of the ACC Tournament's new format. While moving into ninth place would guarantee a 9 a.m. first pitch in the immediate days following a series in California, the three games ahead of this week's return to Fenway Park for the Beanpot Consolation game against No. 227 UMass are more must-win than usual. A Wednesday game against No. 178 Maine is equally critical, and repeat matchups against both Stanford and UMass-Lowell are setting a tone ahead of the ACC's trip to Charlotte.
Boston College and Miami will play a three-game series this weekend with matchups scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons. Friday is slated for 4 p.m. with Saturday scheduled for 12 p.m. at the Harrington Athletics Village before the series shifts to Fenway Park for the 13th annual ALS Awareness Game on Sunday afternoon. Both Saturday and Sunday are scheduled for national television with Saturday's game on ACC Network and Sunday's game on ESPNU. All three games are eligible for streaming coverage via ESPN's family of Internet and mobile device apps.
Tickets to the ALS Awareness Game can also be purchased by visiting the Boston Red Sox box office or online through redsox.com.
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