I made the trip into Chestnut Hill on Sunday to take in the final two games of the Boston College and Florida State series. Boston College won Game 1 on Friday by a score of 10-7. (FULL ARTICLE).
In Game 1, Boston College sent junior LHP Pat Dean to the mound who was sporting a 5-1 record with a 3.60 ERA while FSU sent sophomore LHP Brian Busch who had a 4-0 record with a 3.18 ERA.
The game remained scoreless until the top of the second inning when former Boston College player Rafael Lopez took Pat Dean deep over the right field wall to give the Seminoles the early 1-0 lead. Boston College would come back in the bottom of the second inning by scoring two runs on a Garrett Smith double to give the Eagles the 2-1 lead. Boston College would leave the bases loaded in the inning as they could have blown the game open at that moment but couldn’t. BC would also take on a run in the bottom of the third inning on a Anthony Melchionda single to right field to bring home John Spatola to put them up 3-1.
The game would remain 3-1 until the fifth inning when James Ramsey would get a two out single and was followed by a Tyler Holt homer over the left-center field fence to tie up the game at 3. FSU would grab the 4-3 lead in the sixth inning on a homer with one out by Stuart Tapley over the left field fence. The lead was short lived as Melchionda would lead off the bottom of the sixth with a solo homer over the right field fence to tie the game at 4.
The game would remain 4-4 until the ninth inning when Sherman Johnson would lead off the inning with a single. He would move up to second base on a Devin Travis sacrifice bunt. Rafael Lopez would get into a battle at the plate with BC pitcher Kevin Moran fouling off multiple 3-2 pitches. BC head coach Mik Aoki decided to make a trip to the mound with the count 3-2 to discuss with Moran the situation. After returning to the dugout, Moran’s first pitch was hammered to right field off the right field wall driving in Johnson from second base and give FSU the 5-4 lead. Lopez would score when James Ramsey would double to right field. BC would get out of the inning with no more damage. FSU made the move to closer Mike McGee who would pitch a perfect ninth inning to get his eighth save of the season. Geoff Parker got the win for the Seminoles by pitching three scoreless innings to up his record to 2-0 while Kevin Moran gets the loss from Boston College to drop his record to 7-5.
In Game 2, Boston College sent junior RHP John Leonard to the mound as he had a 2-1 record with a 4.12 ERA while Florida State would send freshman RHP Scott Sitz who had a 4-0 record with a 2.54 ERA.
FSU would jump out to an early 2-0 lead with Tyler Holt leading off the game with a walk and was promptly driven in on a double by second hitter Stephen Cardullo. He would move over to third on a wild pitch and score when Mike McGee would single up the middle. BC would be able to limit the damage though as they would only be down 2-0 after the top of the first. BC would load up the bases in the bottom of the second but couldn’t get the big hit to keep the game 2-0.
The Florida State offense would explode in the fourth inning with five runs. The highlight of the inning was Tyler Holt hitting a two run homer which was followed by homers by Stephen Cardullo and Mike McGee to expand the lead to 7-0. BC would grab a run back in the bottom of the fourth on a Mike Sudol fly out to right field to cut the lead to 7-1. FSU would extend the lead again in the fifth with two more runs to put the Noles up 9-1.
BC would try to make a late rally scoring five runs in the 6th and 7th innings but Florida State rallied for two in the eighth to put the game away to complete the scoring as FSU cruised to the 11-6 victory.
Scott Sitz picked up the win to put his record at 5-0 while John Leonard is now 2-2 after getting the loss.
