I made the trip to the North Carolina and Boston College game on May 14th. The main reason for the trip was to get a look at UNC stud righthander Alex White who was ranked as the third best player in the country before the season by me. (Full Article).Boston College sent number 3 starter John Leonard to the hill. Leonard entered the game with a 1-3 record and an ERA of 7.84.
Mike Sudol led off the bottom of the fifth inning by reaching on a Levi Michael error. He was moved up to second base on a Brad Zapensas sacrifice bunt. He then proceeded to move over to third base on a Robert Anston fly out to right field. Andrew Lawrence with two outs then proceeded to hit a weak groundball which was botched by Dustin Ackley allowing the first run of the game to score. UNC was able to get out of the inning without allowing any more runs as Alex White got Tony Sanchez to fly out to center field.
UNC was able to respond right away in the top of the sixth inning when Garrett Gore would score from second base on a Mike Cavassini single to right field to tie the game up at 1. BC was able to work around the baserunner to keep the game tied at 1.
Boston College came right back in the bottom of the sixth inning when Mike Belfiore and Barry Butera picked up back to back singles to put runners on first and second with one out. Both Belfiore and Butera would move up a base on a Alex White wild pitch during Matt Hamlet’s at bat. Hamlet eventually would hit a fly ball to center field to score Belfiore from third and give the Eagles the 2-1 lead. UNC was able to get out of the inning without giving up any more runs to give the Eagles the 2-1 lead.
Boston College manager Mik Aoki made the move in the top of the seventh inning to BC’s closer/first baseman Mike Belfiore to take over on the hill. He would give up a lead off single to Ben Bunting. UNC’s Levi Michael would lay down a bunt to third base but Mickey Wiswall was able to pick up the ball and toss out Bunting at second base for the first out of the inning. Dustin Ackley would follow with a single through the right side which allowed Michael to advance to third which represented the tying run. Belfiore was able to throw a 2-2 pitch by Kyle Seager for the seocnd out of the inning before retiring Garrett Gore for the final out of the inning and protect the 2-1 lead.
BC would tack on a run in the bottom of the seventh inning as Robert Anston scored on a Tony Sanchez sacrifice fly to give the Eagles the 3-1 lead.
UNC and Boston College would go down in order in the eighth inning so the Eagles headed to the ninth inning with the 3-1 lead. Greg Holt would start the top of the ninth with a single to left field. Ben Bunting would follow with a groundball to shortstop Brad Zapensas who threw to second baseman Matt Hamlet as they got the forceout on Greg Holt at second base but Ben Bunting was able to reach at first. Levi Michael would follow with a single to right field putting runners on first and second with one out. Dustin Ackley would come to the plate representing the lead run but would get caught looking on an 0-2 pitch for the second out of the inning. The next batter was Kyle Seager who flew out to center fielder Robert Anston for the final out of the game to give the Eagles the 3-1 victory.
Matt Brazis picks up the win for Boston College to put his record at 1-0 while Alex White gets the loss to drop his record to 7-3. Mike Belfiore picked up his eighth save by pitching the final three innings without allowing a run and striking out four batters.
The victory by Boston College put their overall record at 31-21 while being 13-13 in ACC play. BC’s win also clinched a spot in the ACC Tournament for the Eagles which will be their first since moving over to ACC play. UNC’s record drops to 39-14 and 17-10 in ACC play. The Tar Heels have lost three out of their last four games in the conference.
