Boston College vs. Texas Preview

After such a great win in a game where they played bad for 8 innings on day 1 of the NCAA Tournament the Eagles will have a lot of confidence going into tonight's game vs. #1 overall seed Texas. The Eagles must be super excited to have gotten by game 1 while still having their best pitcher available in Pat Dean. The Eagles are going to need Dean to pitch well tonight if they want to have any chance to beat the Longhorns. If BC is somehow able to pull out a win vs. the Longhorns tonight they will be in a great position to move on to the Super Regional so we are going to have to hope and pray they are able to pull it off!

The Eagles Projected Starter tonight is:
Pat Dean (6-4, 3.36)

The Eagles will probably go into the game with the same lineup they used against Texas State but they will probably hope the offense comes alive earlier tonight. Here is BC's projected starting lineup:
CF Robbie Anston .358 1 HR 29 RBIs
2B Matt Hamlet .311 0 HR 11 RBIs
C Tony Sanchez .355 14 HR 48 RBIs
3B Mickey Wiswall .318 14 HR 62 RBIs
1B Mike Belfiore .286 11 HR 60 RBIs
SS Barry Butera .333 4 HR 34 RBIs
DH Harry Darling .292 0 HR 13 RBIs
RF Andrew Lawrence .320 3 HR 19 RBIs
LF Mike Sudol .275 6 HR 28 RBIs

The Eagles are going to have to play one of their best games of the year to beat the Longhorns as they are the #1 overall seed in the tournament for a reason. Dean is going to need to shut down the Longhorns offense while the Eagles offense is going to need to be patient get on base and manufacture runs with a home run or extra base hit or two to drive in the key runs.

My Keys to the game for the Eagles:
1. Offense: The offense was shut down for most of the game by Bobcats Ace Kane Holbrooks and are going to need to fair better against the Longhorns #1 ERA pitching staff. The Longhorns have the best and most deep pitching staff in the Nation so the Eagles are going to need some key offense.
2. Defense: BC was terrible in the field yesterday against the Bobcats. They had 2 errors and looked uncomfortable in every aspect of the game on the Field Turf and need to play better against the #1 Longhorns.
3. Coaching: The Longhorns are an even better small ball team than the Eagles but it will be a good matchup of strategy. The Longhorns are 1st in the nation in Sacrifice Hits while the Eagles are 3rd in the nation in Sac Hits so we are going to need some good strategy to beat the 'Horns.

The Longhorns are not an offensive oriented club as they are the 200th Ranked offense in the nation but they have the best staff in the nation. The Longhorns win games by manufacturing a few runs then shutting down the other teams offense.

The Longhorns projected starter tonight:
Chance Ruffin (9-2, 2.96)

The Longhorns will throw out this lineup against the Eagles tonight:
2B Travis Tucker .286, 2 HR, 23 RBIs
1B Brandon Belt .340, 8 HR, 37 RBIs
3B Michael Torres .317, 2 HR, 28 RBIs
C Cameron Rupp .273, 8 HR, 39 RBIs
SS Brandon Loy .312, 0 HR, 23 RBIs
DH Preston Clark .254, 1 HR, 18 RBIs
RF Kevin Keyes .295, 4 HR, 33 RBIs
LF Tant Shepherd .260, 2 HR, 21 RBIs
CF Connor Rowe .272, 6 HR, 33 RBIs

The Longhorns are great team and even though they don't have a high powered offense, they don't need that to beat you. Like I said before Texas will put up 3 or 4 runs then just shut down your offense. The Longhorns are definitely going to be super tough for the Eagles tonight.

My Keys to a Texas victory tonight:
1. Pitching: This is no different from every game for Texas. They have the best staff in the Nation and will look to hold the Eagles to under 3 runs.
2. Small Ball: The Longhorns need to manufacture runs whenever guys get on base because they aren't a team that will score 10 runs a game.
3. Coaching: Just like for the Eagles, this is a matchup game where both teams will try to do the same thing and which ever team gets the better coaching will have the better chance at winning.

This is going to be a very tough one but I can't wait to watch! GO EAGLES!