BRIGHTON, Mass. – Despite outhitting Boston College by an 8-4 count and erasing an early three-run deficit, the Virginia Tech Hokies could not claim its 10th win of the season and dropped the first game of its ACC series to the Eagles, 7-4, Friday afternoon at Brighton Field.
Darion Jacoby and Sam Fragale highlighted the Tech offense as each had two hits including a double, while Jacoby scored twice and Fragale had two RBI as the Hokies chipped away at an early 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead
Tech (9-11, 3-4 ACC) scored single runs in four straight innings starting in the fourth on an RBI double by Fragale that brought home Luke Horanski, who also doubled. In the fifth, Jacoby doubled and scored on a grounder by Jack Owens.
In the sixth and seventh, squeeze plays plated the tying and go-ahead runs, with Fragale executing the first that scored Cam Irvine and Tom Stoffel's bunt in the seventh put Tech up by one when Jacoby crossed the plate.
Boston College (8-11, 3-4 ACC) sent eight to the plate in the home half of the seventh and aided by three walks, an error, a hit batter, a passed ball and just one hit, the Eagles scored four runs to take a 7-4 lead.
Tech responded by loaded the bases in the eighth, but Thomas Lane ended the threat with a strikeout and tossed a perfect ninth to earn his first save of the year.
Inside the Box
- Connor Coward – 6.0 innings pitched, fourth start this season tossing at least six, ninth time in his career; five strikeouts, fifth time with at least five strikeouts this season, 15th time in his career; three perfect frames, 17 for the season, 43 in his career; five scoreless innings pitched, 30 for the season, 103 in his career.
- Fragale – double, sixth of the season, 35th of his career; two hits, sixth multi-hit game of the season, 44th of his career; two RBI, fifth multi-RBI game of the season, 36th of his career.
- Horanski – double, seventh of the season/career.
- Jacoby – double, first of the season/career – first collegiate extra-base hit; two hits, third multi-hit game of the season/career; two runs, third multi-hit game of the season/career.
- JD Mundy – extended his career-long, and a team-long for the season, hitting streak to nine games with a single in the sixth.
- Jojo Odachowski – first collegiate start at shortstop.
- Owens – extended his team-leading reached base streak to 15 straight with a walk in the third.
Additional Notes
- Coward retired the first eight batters in today's game before BC's first hit, which pushed the Hokies' consecutive outs streak to a season-long 19 straight – as Tech pitchers retired the last 11 Yellow Jackets in Sunday's game at Georgia Tech.
- The Hokies all-time series against Boston College now stands at 24-18 in favor of the Hokies, but the Eagles hold a 13-6 mark in Massachusetts.
- On this date, Tech is now 21-29, which includes a 10-20 mark on the road and a 2-4 record against ACC opponents.
Up Next
- The ACC series between the Hokies and Eagles will continue and conclude Saturday as the teams will play a doubleheader at Brighton Field starting at 11:30 a.m.