BC vs. Army Preview

Hey, they played 3+ games yesterday and if they want to stay alive they are going to need to win 2 games today. BC had the unfortunate draw of having to play Army after losing less than 11 hours ago in the 25th in but here is my preview of the game.

The Eagles, who are running out of pitchers will toss:
John Leonard (1-4, 7.24)

Leonard has an inflated ERA and a bad record because he struggled heavily for the first half of the year but he has been much better in the second have pitching pretty well and earning Coach Aoki's trust. Leonard is going to need a HUGE outing today to save the BC bullpen after last night and to give them a chance to play Texas again.

BC will probably run out the same lineup but they may have Tony Sanchez DH and have Harry Darling catch this game. Sanchez had the misfortune of squatting for 25 innings behind the plate last night. Here is my lineup projection:
CF Robbie Anston .358 1 HR 29 RBIs
2B Matt Hamlet .311 0 HR 11 RBIs
DH 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
C 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 keys to victory for this afternoon's game are:
1. Pitching: The Eagles have taxed Mike Belfiore and Chris Kowalski out of the pen so they are going to need to have guys such as Leonard to step up today and have HUGE performances.
2. Hitting: The Eagles looked ugly at the plate last night and need to get the bats going against the Black Knights.
3. Execution: The Eagles we unable to steal, hit and run and most important sacrifice bunt yesterday against the Longhorns and if they want to win they need to execute them to perfection.

The Eagles are going to have a tough time coming out to play today after such a draining physical and mental defeat and are going to need to score early and often to get over the loss quickly, if they want any chance of winning. The Eagles most definitely want a rematch against the Longhorns and hopefully the can win today and get one.

The Army Black Knights look to take advantage of the long, tiring game the Eagles played last night and win to move on. The Black Nights are a pesky club that don't go away which is something the Eagles would love for them to do but it just won't happen.

The Black Knights will throw:
Kirk Porter (6-3, 4.19)

Porter is their 3rd starter who missed some of the beginning of the year after have torn labrum surgery. He is a ground ball pitcher who has a NASTY breaking ball. The Eagles need to work the count against him and try to get him out of the game early.

The Black Knights will probably roll the same lineup today against the Eagles:
2B Zach Price .347, 0 HR, 24 RBIs
CF Andy Ernesto .307, 3 HR, 38 RBIs
SS Clint Moore .391, 10 HR, 60 RBIs
DH Joey Henshaw .388, 12 HR, 70 RBIs
1B Kevin McKague .387, 6 HR, 42 RBIs
3B J.P. Polchinski .277, 7 HR, 32 RBIs
RF Kyle Fleming .288, 6 HR, 34 RBIs
LF David Darnell .250, 1 HR, 11 RBIs
C J.T. Watkins .256, 2 HR, 28 RBIs

The Black Knights keys to victory are:
1. Getting to the Bullpen: The Eagles bullpen is taxed and the sooner they can get to the Eagles pen the better for them. The need to take advantage of the 25 inning game BC just played.
2. Hitting: They are a big hitting club and need to continue that today against BC in order to have a chance at a rematch with Texas.
3. Pitching: They have gotten good pitching thus far in the tournament, giving up on 7 runs so far and they need to continue that against the struggling BC lineup.

This game should be very interesting. Army has the distinct advantage of not having had played a 25 inning game, 11 hours ago and needs to use that to its advantage. While BC has the confidence of know that they can play with anyone by almost being the #1 overall seed in the nation last year. GO EAGLES!

BC vs. Texas Recap

Well I am pretty sure I can do this in a few words, such as TWENTY-FIVE INNINGS, but it is much more deserving of a bigger and better look. The Eagles lost a heart breaker, 3-2, against the #1 overall seeded Texas Longhorns at the Longhorns home stadium in 25 innings. Sure it is disappointed to lose, but there is this feeling of extreme pride and accomplishment after this game. I mean the huge underdog Eagles come into Texas' home stadium push them to the brink of elimination, shut them down for 23 innings and end up losing it on a wild pitch that was inevitable with a catcher who had been squatting behind the plate for 25 innings. I mean sure BC could have won and it would have been much more satisfactory but losing kind of puts a game like this into perspective. Each closer when a complete game (9+ innings), Outfielders player all 3 positions, Pitchers hit and run, infielders played the outfield, umpires throw out players when it wasn't necessary, there was 3+ games played in 1 game, a ton of records were broken. Just a ridiculous game and one that the players on both sides of the ball will never forget and neither will I nor the rest of college baseball.

Some epic pitching performances tonight by both teams and that is really the story of the game so I will tell you about them. Chance Ruffin, the Texas starter threw 6.1 innings of 5 hit, 2 run baseball while Pat Dean, the BC starter, tried to one up him and threw 7 innings of 9 hit, 2 run baseball. But that wasn't it, the Texas closer, Austin Wood, came in threw 13.0 innings of scoreless, 2 hit baseball while throwing 12.1 hitless innings aswell. BC closer almost matched Wood step for step throwing 9.2 innings of 3 hit, scoreless baseball in relief. The Eagles ended up using 7 pitchers while the Longhorns tried to make their kids arms fall off by using only 3 pitchers. The Eagles had 16 chances to end it at plate but Texas pitching was too good and the BC hitting looked off. However, It was a remarkable game that I hope I get a chance to watch again in my life because it was that good.

I will have my BC-Army Preview up momentarily! Go Eagles!

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!

Surprise on the Golf Course

I was only able to check the scores a couple times on the golf course and that last time I was able to was when they were down 5-2 after 7. Boy was I surprise when I heard on the radio driving home that they Eagles were up 8-5 after 8 and a half and I was even more surprised when the final score was 8-7. Boy I probably would have passed out and died if I was watching so golfing just may have saved my life. What a HUGE win for the Eagles and their program. Playing a bad game in the field and at the plate all game then still coming up with a huge comeback.

The biggest key for the Eagles is that they were able to saved their #1 starter Pat Dean for the winner of the Texas/Army (most likely #1 overall seed Texas) game that is in progress now in Austin, which gives the Eagles a real chance to win that game and give them a chance to move on to the super regional.

Please go to BC Interruption to get a small recap and their thoughts on the game and the normal struggles of a BC fan as I am not able to give my thoughts because I was unable to watch.

Anyway LETS GO EAGLES! Keep it up!

Eagle Links: 5/28

Articles are popping up here and there about the Boston College baseball and its players. This one is about shortstop/outfielder Barry Butera.

HokieHaven.com put out their top 5 running backs in the ACC, unfortunately their ridiculous bias comes out. Ryan Williams a redshirt freshman is listed as the 4th best (along with Darren Evans at 2nd, which is justified), all while leaving out Montel Harris. All I can do it laugh at that, a guy who hasn't played a game in college is better than I guy who had an awesome freshman season while only getting about 60% of the carries.

Lots of Austin Regional Previews coming out. Two of the better ones come Rivals.com who put theirs out earlier today, with some very good words about BC and The College Baseball Blog who put theirs up last night with snapshots of each team. Not to forget the BC vs. Texas State Preview that I put out earlier today.

CBS College Sports All-Access is streaming the game for free tomorrow at 2:00 PM EST! Click here to find the stream! That is awesome!

I'll be golfing all day tomorrow so I won't be on here but I will be following from my iPhone so GO EAGLES!!

Austin Regional: #3 Boston College vs. #2 Texas State Preview

Boston College comes into the NCAA tournament for the first time in 42 years and it has a very tough matchup ahead of them. In fact, the last time the Eagles made the NCAA tournament in 1967, current head coach Mik Aoki wasn't even born yet. The Eagles will face the Bobcats of Texas State (41-15), an at-large bid out of the Southland conference, at the University of Texas' UFCU Disch-Falk Stadium in Austin, Texas. But Coach Aoki is taking the difficult task at playing in the #1 overall national seed's homefield in stride saying to the Globe this morning, "We're excited about playing games at the University of Texas with its great tradition," said Aoki yesterday before the Eagles went through their final practice session before flying to Austin this morning. "It's truly college baseball royalty." The Eagles are going up against the high powered Bobcats offense and are going to need some stellar pitching this weekend to have any chance at all. I have done some scouting on the Bobcats and feel I have enough info on the team to give you guys a good preview of the game on Friday at 2 PM EST.

The Eagles are coming off a great showing at the ACC tournament going 2-1 while beating Georgia Tech handily and blowing out Miami. They Eagles have 2 very solid pitchers at the top of their rotation and could go with either one of them against Texas State, My guess is they go with Senior Captain J.B. MacDonald, because they are going to need Pat Dean in a tough game vs. Texas is they win OR in a must win game if they lose.

Here are the possible BC Pitchers for the weekend:
Pat Dean 6-4, 3.36
JB MacDonald 5-7, 4.70
Mike Dennhardt 5-1, 4.97
John Leonard 1-4, 7.24

The Eagles key pitchers out of the Bullpen are:
Mike Belfiore 5-1 2.15 8 saves in 25 apperanaces
Kevin Moran 5-2 2.84 0 saves in 23 apperanaces
Nate Bayuk 0-0 3.38 1 save in 29 apperanaces

The Eagles will expect to go into the game with the same lineup they used in their last two ACC tournament games:
1. CF Robbie Anston .358 1 HR 29 RBIs
2. 2B Matt Hamlet .311 0 HR 11 RBIs
3. C Tony Sanchez .355 14 HR 48 RBIs
4. 3B Mickey Wiswall .318 14 HR 62 RBIs
5. 1B Mike Belfiore .286 11 HR 60 RBIs
6. SS Barry Butera .333 4 HR 34 RBIs
7. DH Harry Darling .292 0 HR 13 RBIs
8. RF Andrew Lawrence .320 3 HR 19 RBIs
9. LF Mike Sudol .275 5 HR 25 RBIs

With John Spatola .304 3 HR 23 RBIs, being the only somewhat reliable player off the bench to help the Eagles if need be.

The Eagles are know to be a small ball team and according to one Texas fan, "The Disch (UFCU Disch-Falk Field) might be the most pitcher friendly park in America. The infield is very slow, designed that way for the way the Longhorns like to play small ball with a lot of sacrifice bunts and sigles and doubles rather than trying to hit the long ball.

As stated above, the prevailing winds also tend to keep balls in the ball park. Your only real hope to conisistently hit the ball out of the park is to drive the ball low and hard down either line. If it gets up in the air, particularly betrween left and right center, its going to die."

Which may benefit Texas BUT it also benefits the Eagles because they aren't a team who will out slug you. It has been well documented that coach Mitch Aoki's philosophy is score one run an inning usually through sacrifices and small ball seeing as the Eagles are 3rd in the nation in sacrifice hits.

The Three Keys to the Eagles success this weekend are:
1. Starting Pitching: The Eagles are able to hit and score with the best of them so the key is going to be whether or not th Eagles can keep the other teams from scoring.
2. Tony Sanchez and Mickey Wiswall: These two are the best offensive players for the Eagles and are both going to need to step up even more for the Eagles to avoid losing 2 games.
3. Winning Game 1: Teams who lose game 1 don't usually move on because you then usually have to win 4 games in a row in order to advance to the Super Regionals.

The Texas State Bobcats, as I said before have a high powered offense that has lead them all year through their conference and earned them an at-large bid in this tournament. The Bobcats were the regular season champions in the Southland conference, but were upset in the Conference Tournament by Sam Houston State in the title game. The Bobcats may not play in the ACC like the Eagles, but they have a very good game and are a great matchup for the Eagles.

The Bobcats have a very good ace in Kane Holbrooks, but they may choose to risk it and try to win game 1 with their second starter, Zach Tritz, who isn't nearly as good as Holbrooks.

The possible starters for the Bobcats are:
Kane Holbrooks 10-1 3.34
Brian Borski 7-3 3.89
Zach Tritz 8-2 4.75

With these guys out of the Bullpen:
Tyler Brundrige 3-1 3.42 3 saves in 32 appearances
Michael Russo 4-2 3.86 6 saves in 23 appearances
Lance Loftin 3-0 3.09 1 save in 20 appearances

The Bobcats have a very high powered offense and look to keep that going into their first NCAA tournament since 2000:
1. RF Tyler Sibley .369 10 HR's 38 RBI's
2. CF Bret Atwood .373 1 HR 30 RBI's
3. 1B Paul Goldschmidt .353 17 HR's 85 RBI's
4. DH Keith Prestidge .370 7 HR's 49 RBI's
5. LF Spenser Dennis .408 6 HR's 49 RBI's
6. C Ben Theriot .346 6 HR's 36 RBI's
7. 2B Kyle Livinstone .322 5 HR's 32 RBI's
8. 3B Jordan Kopycinski.298 1 HR 8 RBI's
9. Jason Martinson .302 7 HR's 39 RBI's

They also have two reliable players and hitters off the bench that they can use at any time to replace anyone in the lineup in Lance Lofton .304 6 HR's 30 RBI's and Kyle Bubitza .299 6 HR's 21 RBI's.

The Bobcats three keys to this tournament will be:
1. Paul Goldschmidt: He is probably the best hitter in this regional and the Bobcats offensive production is usually based around him.
2. Pitching: The Bobcats can hit with the best of them but they aren't very deep in pitching. They did well in the Southland but things are much different facing teams from the ACC and Big XII.
3. Confidence: Some Southland conference teams may come in against ACC and Big XII teams, but if they Bobcats want to win they need to come in believing they can win.

This team is pretty solid and the coach from Lamar stated this might be the best team in Southland Conference history. These guys play the game right and enjoy playing together. The Eagles and the Bobcats look to matchup very well and should be a GREAT game tomorrow.

Go Eagles!

Q&A with Travis Everette

Travis Everatte is an associate with Rivals.com who was there to specifically help them blog about the ACC Baseball Championship. Therefore, I contacted him and asked him if he could answer a few questions for me and he was super kind and actually answered them for me!

TOTH: Can you explain to me and other BC fans what making the NCAA tournament after years of mediocrity and a move to such a tough conference means to the program?

TE: I think it is a huge step in the right direction for the players and coaching staff at Boston College. Coach Aoki and his staff have done an amazing job turning that program around and I have no doubt that they’ll continue to be competitive and give the rest of the league fits in years to come. Playing in the NCAA tournament will only add fuel to that fire.

TOTH: Why do you think Boston College and the ACC were looked at by the committee as lesser teams than the Big 12 and SEC schools?

TE: I don’t know that you could say that the ACC teams were looked at as lesser teams. I thought that everyone from the league who had a legitimate case for being included in the tournament was invited. I also think that the right teams got host spots and #1 seeds. I do think that UVA got a raw deal on their regional assignment being shipped all the way out to Irvine and having to face Stephen Strasburg in the first game. Duke’s RPI was a real killer but if you get down to it, I have little doubt that they are a better squad than either Baylor or Oklahoma State, so I guess you could make an argument that they were shorted, but it’s really not a strong argument because in my opinion none of those three should be in. All in all, I think the league got a pretty fair draw.

TOTH: Do you think the Eagles can use their success this year as a spring board for the program or is this just a fluke and they will go back to mediocrity after this year?

TE: I sort of answered this in question #1, but I’ll say it again: I think Boston College is going to be very competitive for a long while, particularly as long as the current coaching staff is in place. Coach Aoki was very impressive during the ACC tournament. That was the first time I”ve had the chance to interact face to face with him and I came away thinking that he was one of the more engaging coaches in the league. Also, make no mistake, Boston College is tremendously talented. They have some kids who can really compete with the best teams in the league. If they continue to mine that northeast talent pool, they will be just fine.

TOTH: What do you think has been the biggest key to Boston College's success this year? And do you think coach Mike Aoki should get more praise for what he has done in such a short time with this team?

TE: I don’t think there is any magic recipe to their success. They’re winning with talented kids playing hard and smart who are coached by a solid coaching staff. That will get it done every time.

TOTH: On to the NCAA tournament and the Austin Regional specifically. Since I and many BC fans haven't got to watch a ton of college baseball, what are some quick strengths and weaknesses for all of the teams in the Austin Regional?

TE: That regional should be one of the more interesting ones to watch. Obviously Texas is the #1 national seed for a reason. They are a tremendously talented team both on the mound as well as at the plate. I think the interesting thing about that regional is Texas State at #2. Honestly, that’s a pretty good draw for Boston College. The Bobcats simply aren’t a #2 seed in my opinion. I think that Boston College will be playing in the winner’s bracket game against Texas. That’s a game I would like to see.

TOTH: Some predictions. Who wins BC or Texas State in game 1? Then how many wins do you think BC can get? Finally, does BC have any chance at all at making it out of this regional?

TE: Boston College most definitely has a chance to advance. In this format, that winner’s bracket game is huge. If they can manage to get past Texas there, I think they have an excellent shot at advancement.

TOTH: Who wins the whole thing?

TE: It’s impossible to predict this tournament with any accuracy whatsoever, so I’ll just go with UNC. They’re the most experienced tournament team in the whole thing and I think it would be fitting for them to finally get it done with the least talented of their recent squads.

TOTH: Lastly, not neccessarily BC related but after the message the committee sent Rhode Island this week, what incentive is there for small northern schools to keep their baseball programs around?

TE: This committee was criminal in their treatment of Rhode Island. If I were a participating member, I would be absolutely embarrassed at the inclusion of Baylor and Oklahoma State while not having Rhode Island in the tournament. Of course they aren’t going to ever have a complete resume when compared to a warm weather school, but they did absolutely everything you could ask of them to improve their schedule and they won the majority of those southern games. I think it is an absolute travesty that they aren’t in. It does send the wrong message to northern schools. I do hope that the schools up there won’t allow the most biased chairman in the history of the committee (and that is saying something) to dissuade them from participating in our national pastime.

I would like to thank Travis so much for taking the time out of his day to answer my questions and give me something to write about on the blog! Go Eagles.