Moving On: Gavin Soares Shoves in Relief as Eagles Outlast Notre Dame in Extras
May 21, 2025 | Baseball
Kyle Wolff hit a three-run homer, Patrick Roche delivered game-winning hit as Eagles advance
The Fighting Irish took an early lead, with a pair of singles, ground-rule double, and sacrifice fly making it a 2-0 game. Eagles' starter A.J. Colarusso finished the frame with his second strikeout to strand a runner in scoring position.
The Eagles wasted no time in answering. With two outs in the top of the second, Vince Cimini walked, and Adam Magpoc singled to bring up Kyle Wolff. Wolff worked the count full, and obliterated his team-leading eighth home run of the year deep to left field, 388 feet and 105 mph off the bat to put BC in front, 3-2 with one swing of the bat. Colarusso picked up the offense, hanging a zero in the bottom of the second while picking up his third strikeout of the evening.
Josiah Ragsdale and Patrick Roche led off the third with consecutive singles, putting runners at the corners with nobody out. After a strikeout, Gunnar Johnson dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to score Ragsdale and make it 4-2 Eagles midway through three. Colarusso hung his second straight zero in the third, punching out his fourth and fifth batters of the game to send it to the fourth with the Eagles leading by two.
The Irish responded with a leadoff solo shot in the bottom of the fourth to pull within one run, but Colarusso halted the rally there, with the Eagles leading 4-3 after four full. JD Ogden relieved Colarusso to begin the fifth and set the Irish down in order, striking out his first two batters before a soft groundout completed the 1-2-3 frame. The Irish worked the bases loaded in the sixth, and a free pass brought the tying run across to even the game at 4-4. Gavin Soares took over in relief, inheriting a bases-loaded jam, and the freshman delivered. Facing the top two batters in the Irish order, the righty out of Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey struck them both out, sending the game to the seventh tied at 4-4.
Soares continued to deal through the seventh, punching out two more batters to bring his strikeout total to four through six at-bats to keep it tied after seven full. The sides traded a scoreless eighth, with Notre Dame sending the game to the bottom of the ninth tied at 4-4. Gavin Soares worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth to send it to extras. Sam McNulty led off the first frame of extras with a base hit to left field, and after advancing to second on a passed ball, Patrick Roche came through with the go-ahead single, scoring McNulty from second to put BC in front, 5-4 midway through ten.
Soares came back out for the bottom of the tenth and finished what he started, completing 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, earning the win (4-1), and holding the Irish to just one hit with five strikeouts to send the Eagles to the second round of the 2025 ACC Championship.
The Eagles will face Virginia in the second round at 9:00 on Wednesday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Soares, Gavin (4-1)
L: Tobey McDonough (2-1)

Batting:
HR: Wolff, Kyle 1
RBI: Roche, Patrick 1 ; Johnson, Gunnar 1 ; Wolff, Kyle 3
SH: Johnson, Gunnar 1 ; McNulty, Sam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ragsdale, Josiah 1 ; Cimini, Vince 1 ; Magpoc, Adam 1 ; Wolff, Kyle 1 ; McNulty, Sam 1
SB: Ragsdale, Josiah 1
CS: Roche, Patrick 1
HBP: Wolff, Kyle 1

Batting:
2B: Parker Brzustewicz 1 ; Jared Zimbardo 1
HR: Estevan Moreno 1
RBI: Parker Brzustewicz 1 ; Connor Hincks 1 ; Estevan Moreno 1 ; Brady Gumpf 1
SH: Nick DeMarco 2
SF: Connor Hincks 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DM Jefferson 1 ; Carson Tinney 1 ; Estevan Moreno 2
HBP: Jared Zimbardo 1 ; Nick DeMarco 1