Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Rob Davis Photo
Building Blocks Emerge Despite First Round Defeat
May 29, 2026 | Baseball, #ForBoston Files
College baseball regionals are marathons, and BC found a path forward in Friday's defeat.
Boston College head coach Todd Interdonato knew that Ben Blair was starting to tire. The surefire ace of Liberty's starting rotation neared 100 pitches as the sixth inning bled into the seventh, and his pitch selection bordered on predictable. For two innings, he'd increasingly relied on a fastball topping into the mid-90s, and the fifth inning produced the first BC run when Julio Solier homered to the right field power alley. Carter Hendrickson and Nick Wang bookended the inning by getting ahead in counts that ended with groundouts, and a Kyle Wolff single to center field in the sixth occurred with a 1-0 count before Gunnar Johnson flew out after likewise receiving a first pitch ball.
Blair was in danger of losing hitters, and BC starter AJ Colarusso finally started matching a surefire first round pick with his own cagey determination after dancing out of traffic for four consecutive innings. His own sixth inning ended with a double play after Kyle Hvidsten struck out, and base runners in the fifth and seventh found themselves stranded by first-pitch and second-pitch outs generated by the veteran southpaw.
The Eagles sensed an inevitable breakthrough coming, and they converted belief into reality by awakening their offensive bats in the immediate aftermath of the seventh inning stretch. Their trademark grit shone through, and even though the ninth inning resulted in a First Round defeat, the marathon facing the Athens Regional got a small taste of what might just lie ahead for Saturday's elimination game setting.
"I thought [this game] was exactly what I expected, coming into this situation," said Interdonato after BC's eventual one-run loss to the Flames. "I thought their starter did what we prepared for, and I thought he was really good…I felt like every time we had a chance, it was really giving us an opportunity to create a rhythm. [Solier] pumped two balls out of the park, Jack [Toomey] got one out of the park. We know we're capable of that, and then I thought AJ getting out of the seventh was electric."
The majority of SEC stadiums are constructed in ways that benefit various different offenses seeking to add production. Nearly every field carries a positive coefficient towards its Park Factor - a measurement used to determine how much a particular arena translates to added runs scored over an average - but Foley Field's rate is more complex than its near-even variation. Its breakdown, especially between a cavernous left field and shortened right field fence, creates an egg shape that enables balls to fly out of its right side with a bit less girth than the deeper 375-foot distance to its left side foul pole.
Facing a hardened thrower in Blair therefore created mismatches against a BC lineup with seven right-handed bats. Two of those hitters - Nick Wang and Jack Toomey - connected in a way that moved the ball to left field in the first four innings, but Wang's single to left represented the only fly ball that landed with a single aside from left-hander Ty Mainolfi's second inning single. The vast majority of the rest of BC's hitters were left to either beat the ball into the ground or fail to produce anything that moved a runner beyond first base.
A switch didn't occur until Blair started relying more exclusively on his fastball. Throwing into the high-90s meant that a right-handed bat could connect in a way that powered the ball to the opposite way by swinging slightly behind the velocity, and Solier's two home runs each went to the right field power alley by exploding towards the trees with an increased exit velocity. One inning later in the eighth, reliever Tyler August missed on a pitch that landed middle-middle to Jack Toomey, who lined it down the right field line for BC's one-run lead in the eighth.
"I just tried to be calm, to be honest," said Solier. "I don't really get too high or too low, and I just play the game that I love. It's weird to say, but I don't really care what I do. I just like winning…hitting those home runs are for the team, not [just] for me."
Colarusso, meanwhile, landed right in his personal wheelhouse by throwing 75 pitches through the first five innings. Knowing his best starts occurred when he could reach closer to 100 pitches across a six-inning or seven-inning outing, he mixed pitch selection in a way that kept Liberty's power hitters more honest. The only player in the sixth or seventh to hit a ball towards right field was Landon Scilley, and he forced Tanner Marsh to surrender an out on the base paths after the Conference USA Player of the Year doubled to left in the seventh.
"[AJ] battled his face off," said Interdonato. "To continue to hang zeroes [between the second and the seventh innings], we used two of [our pitchers], and that sets you up better than anticipated, [even though] it is what it is at this point."
Even with the defeat, the performance within the lines establishes a game plan for a BC team that admittedly needed more consistency to win its game against the Flames. Understanding the path forward, the Eagles have an opportunity to build on their later innings for Saturday's elimination game if they're able to avoid their letdowns. They were able to inflict damage against two of Conference USA's best arms and a potential first round draft pick, and they put themselves in a position to win a game in a highly-competitive regional.Â
While they ultimately lost the game, regional brackets are long marathons capable of dragging through four days, and establishing momentum - even a shred of it - is a positive building block that will determine what happens when two teams take to Foley Field with their respective backs to the wall.
Blair was in danger of losing hitters, and BC starter AJ Colarusso finally started matching a surefire first round pick with his own cagey determination after dancing out of traffic for four consecutive innings. His own sixth inning ended with a double play after Kyle Hvidsten struck out, and base runners in the fifth and seventh found themselves stranded by first-pitch and second-pitch outs generated by the veteran southpaw.
The Eagles sensed an inevitable breakthrough coming, and they converted belief into reality by awakening their offensive bats in the immediate aftermath of the seventh inning stretch. Their trademark grit shone through, and even though the ninth inning resulted in a First Round defeat, the marathon facing the Athens Regional got a small taste of what might just lie ahead for Saturday's elimination game setting.
"I thought [this game] was exactly what I expected, coming into this situation," said Interdonato after BC's eventual one-run loss to the Flames. "I thought their starter did what we prepared for, and I thought he was really good…I felt like every time we had a chance, it was really giving us an opportunity to create a rhythm. [Solier] pumped two balls out of the park, Jack [Toomey] got one out of the park. We know we're capable of that, and then I thought AJ getting out of the seventh was electric."
The majority of SEC stadiums are constructed in ways that benefit various different offenses seeking to add production. Nearly every field carries a positive coefficient towards its Park Factor - a measurement used to determine how much a particular arena translates to added runs scored over an average - but Foley Field's rate is more complex than its near-even variation. Its breakdown, especially between a cavernous left field and shortened right field fence, creates an egg shape that enables balls to fly out of its right side with a bit less girth than the deeper 375-foot distance to its left side foul pole.
Facing a hardened thrower in Blair therefore created mismatches against a BC lineup with seven right-handed bats. Two of those hitters - Nick Wang and Jack Toomey - connected in a way that moved the ball to left field in the first four innings, but Wang's single to left represented the only fly ball that landed with a single aside from left-hander Ty Mainolfi's second inning single. The vast majority of the rest of BC's hitters were left to either beat the ball into the ground or fail to produce anything that moved a runner beyond first base.
A switch didn't occur until Blair started relying more exclusively on his fastball. Throwing into the high-90s meant that a right-handed bat could connect in a way that powered the ball to the opposite way by swinging slightly behind the velocity, and Solier's two home runs each went to the right field power alley by exploding towards the trees with an increased exit velocity. One inning later in the eighth, reliever Tyler August missed on a pitch that landed middle-middle to Jack Toomey, who lined it down the right field line for BC's one-run lead in the eighth.
"I just tried to be calm, to be honest," said Solier. "I don't really get too high or too low, and I just play the game that I love. It's weird to say, but I don't really care what I do. I just like winning…hitting those home runs are for the team, not [just] for me."
Colarusso, meanwhile, landed right in his personal wheelhouse by throwing 75 pitches through the first five innings. Knowing his best starts occurred when he could reach closer to 100 pitches across a six-inning or seven-inning outing, he mixed pitch selection in a way that kept Liberty's power hitters more honest. The only player in the sixth or seventh to hit a ball towards right field was Landon Scilley, and he forced Tanner Marsh to surrender an out on the base paths after the Conference USA Player of the Year doubled to left in the seventh.
"[AJ] battled his face off," said Interdonato. "To continue to hang zeroes [between the second and the seventh innings], we used two of [our pitchers], and that sets you up better than anticipated, [even though] it is what it is at this point."
Even with the defeat, the performance within the lines establishes a game plan for a BC team that admittedly needed more consistency to win its game against the Flames. Understanding the path forward, the Eagles have an opportunity to build on their later innings for Saturday's elimination game if they're able to avoid their letdowns. They were able to inflict damage against two of Conference USA's best arms and a potential first round draft pick, and they put themselves in a position to win a game in a highly-competitive regional.Â
While they ultimately lost the game, regional brackets are long marathons capable of dragging through four days, and establishing momentum - even a shred of it - is a positive building block that will determine what happens when two teams take to Foley Field with their respective backs to the wall.
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/ BaseballBaseball: Liberty Postgame Press Conference (May 29, 2026)
Friday, May 29
Baseball: Todd Interdonato Media Availability (May 28, 2026)
Thursday, May 28
Baseball: Gunnar Johnson Media Availability (May 28, 2026)
Thursday, May 28
Baseball: A.J. Colarusso Media Availability (May 28, 2026)
Thursday, May 28
