Bird Ball Wins 15th Beanpot With Walk Off HR In 9th

BRIGHTON - Facing its first bit of real adversity this season, No. 11 BC had a chance to right wrongs from last weekend and claim a championship on Tuesday night.

The Eagles hosted Harvard for the Beanpot title after getting swept by Louisville last weekend, giving BC its first legitimate losing streak of the season. Thanks to a lead off, walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth from Nick Wang, the Eagles clinched the program’s 15th baseball Beanpot with a thrilling 5-4 win in front of a jam-packed crowd.

BC is now 22-9 overall but can’t celebrate this one long as the Eagles are right back at it on Wednesday with a game in New Hampshire against Dartmouth.

“They’ve shown over and over - and it’s something that we as a program…it’s built in our DNA - we’re going to have to overcome adversity,” said head coach Mike Gambino. “If we don’t deal with adversity well, we’re not going to have a chance. So, it’s just part of the DNA of Bird Ball and these guys do a great job of it.”

BC seemed poised to end this one early, loading the bases twice in the first, but only managed to plate one run. Travis Honeyman got things started when he was hit by a pitch with one out. With Joe Vetrano up, Honeyman stole second and went to third on a passed ball, but Vetrano ended up walking and Pat Roche was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a Cam Leary strikeout, Honeyman scored on a wild pitch during a Nick Wang at bat. Vetrano and Roche moved up and Leary walked to load them up again, but Barry Walsh flied out to left to end the early threat.

In the bottom of the third, Vetrano hammered a solo home run to dead centerfield, well over the 403’ mark on the wall and Roche followed with a solo shot of his own to left for back-to-back jacks and a 3-0 Eagles lead.

Usual bullpen arm Eric Schroeder started the game for BC and went two innings before Charlie Coon took over in the third. Coon did his two innings of duty and then gave way to Matt Nunan who took the bump for the fifth after BC wasted another bases loaded opportunity in the bottom of the fourth. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Harvard’s bats woke up once Nunan took the hill. BC couldn’t record an out before the Crimson plated two on a bases loaded two-run double off the left field wall for Ben Rounds, cutting it to 3-2. With runners on second and third, Andrew Roman came on and immediately walked the first batter he faced to re-load the bags. Two pitches later, a hit batter brought in another run to tie the game. Another walk followed to force in Harvard’s fourth run, giving the Crimson its first lead of the game. Rowan finally got a strikeout for the first out of the frame and then got a much-needed 5-4-3 double play to keep the damage under control. In total, Harvard sent nine to the plate during the nearly half hour inning.

BC tied the game back up at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth on a one-out RBI fielder’s choice to second off the bat of Roche. In the top of the seventh, Joey Ryan took over on the mound for the Eagles and quickly sat the Crimson down in order. He did so again in the eighth as well after BC put a runner on in the seventh that was quickly erased with a double play. BC missed a chance to take the lead in the eighth after getting the go-ahead run to second with just one out. It was then Julian Tonghini’s turn to take over on the bump in the top of the ninth as the Eagles continued to try and piece together a win.

After getting the first two outs quickly, Tonghini gave up a walk, a single to left and another walk to load the bases before ultimately getting out of the mess with a strikeout and setting up Wang’s heroics.

The trip to Dartmouth will now be a lot more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise as this magical season continues. “Bus rides are always more fun after a win,” added Gambino.

“It’s a bit of a grind heading back up there (Wednesday) to go play Dartmouth. We always know we have a target on our back, but we don’t care about all the other stuff. All we care about it how we’re playing the game. Are we playing up to our standards? “It’s another chance to get better, another chance to learn, another chance to grow and a chance to get ready for the weekend.”