Baseball: Boston College

There is not much going on around UVa as exams start up next week, but there is one more important series for the Cavs Baseball team before the break as they head to Boston College for an important 3 game series.

Why is a series against a 14-24 team a big deal? It has to do with the team the Eagles played last weekend.  Georgia Tech swept Boston College last week and, by virtue of NC State taking game one from the Hoos last weekend, the Jackets are only one game behind UVa for first place in the ACC.  Because the ACC Tournament is a 3 game round robin format, seeding is important.  If it ended today the Hoos would be in the same bracket as Miami, UNC, and VT while GT would play FSU, Clemson, and NC State.  UVa right now want no part of that other bracket as it has two teams which have beat the Cavaliers this year and one loss can possibly kick you out of the championship game.  But that is looking to far ahead.  Let’s look at the Hoos opponent next.

As of Tuesday, Boston College is 14-24 and 6-14 in the ACC.  They have not won any games that would be considered “good wins”, but they have lost to a lot of marginal teams like UCF, Holy Cross, Northeastern, Rhode Island, and Dartmouth. And looking at the numbers, it is clear why BC has struggled.

Offensively, the Eagles rank last or near the last in every offensive category, including runs, on base %, and batting average. Boston College’s biggest bats include Matt McGovern (.442. 1 HR, 15 RBI), Anthony Melchionda (.336, 1 HR, 33 HR), and Andrew Lawrence (.260, 4 HR, and 18 RBI). Pitching wise it is even worse.  They are dead last in every major statistical category in the ACC, and most of the time, it is not even close.  The probables this weekend include John Leonard (4-5, 4.69 ERA, 32 K, 16 BB), Andrew Lawrence (1-1, 3.32 ERA, 12 K, 9 BB), Eric Stevens (1-1, 5.50 ERA, 25 K, 21 BB), and Nate Bayuk (4-4, 6.49 ERA, 22 K, 18 BB).  The only good thing the Eagles do well is defense, where they rank tied for 3rd, only behind UVa and UNC.

It is critical that the Hoos sweep this weekend as GT must travel to Clemson, a team the Hoos also swept.  Virginia keys to victory is just to hit the ball, hit is again, and keep hitting it some more.  UVa’s pitching will be there, even if they give up some runs.  So look for some Hokie-series-esque final scores.