Maine Defeats #22 Boston College 6-4! Game Recap:
Troy Carpenter stands in at the box. (Photo courtesy of the University of Maine athletic department).
The Maine Black Bears (12-24, 7-5 America East) defeated the #22 Boston College Eagles (31-13, 14-7 ACC) by a score of 6-4 at Eddie Pellagrini Diamond on Monday. This is a highly impressive upset for Maine, and is their first win against a ranked opponent since 3/3/2018 when they took down the Miami Hurricanes. Miami was ranked #24 at the time, and Maine had current major leaguer and former World Series MVP Jeremy Pena on the roster at the time.
Maine scored first with a Troy Carpenter RBI single and Juju Stevens sacrifice fly to give the Black Bears a 2-0 lead before BC would even have the chance to hit. Maine extended the lead to 3-0 in the top of the third via a Carpenter opposite field home run, and would hold Bird Ball scoreless through the first three frames.
BC would not remain quiet for long however, as they would tie the game up in the fourth inning. Eagles CF Carter Hendrickson led the bottom of the frame off with a double into left field, and his teammate Luke Gallo singled on the very next play to bring Hendrickson home. BC played the savvy and smart brand of baseball that Head Coach Todd Interdonato is known to bring upon his teams to score two more; two bases were stolen, two walks were drawn, and the Eagles drew a HBP in the fourth as well. BC recorded just one more hit in the frame but drove in two more by way of some smart and gritty baseball to even the score. Maine just escaped the inning before any more damage was done, as reliever Jack Donlin induced a bases-loaded fly out with two outs to calm the Black Bears’ nerves.
An RBI double off the bat of DH Albert De La Rosa broke the tie just a half inning later, giving Maine the 4-3 lead. It would remain deadlocked until Nick Wang recorded a sac fly to bring home Ty Manolfi in the bottom of the 8th and tie the game back up for Boston College. Overall, this was an excellent performance from the Maine bullpen after starter Thomas Stabley was chased in the fourth. The Wang sac fly was the only run the Maine pen would surrender all night, striking out 6 batters in 5 1/3 innings of work.
It was Juju Stevens and Troy Carpenter who delivered scoring to start the game in the first inning; it’s only fitting that those two played heroes again in the ninth. Carpenter singled off of Cesar Gonzalez, notching his fourth hit off the contest to lead off the inning. Stevens answered the call right after, sending one deep to left field for his 10th home run of the season and giving Maine the lead 6-4. Sebastian Holt walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the ninth, but the next two BC hitters would go down on a 6-3 double play and a strikeout to end the game and secure the win for Maine. Carpenter and Stevens really answered the call for Maine tonight, combining to hit 5/9 with 2 home runs and driving in 5 of their team’s 6 runs.
This loss snaps a 7-game winning streak for Boston College and makes the rest of their schedule that much more impactful in terms of preserving RPI and ranking. BC will attempt to regain momentum as they head to South Bend to face Notre Dame in a weekend series, while Maine will look to use this win as a springboard into their home series against UMBC.
Final Score: #22 Boston College 4, Maine 6
WP: Owen Wheeler (1-4)
LP: Cesar Gonzalez (3-1)
SV: Sebastian Holt (3)
TheRundownPod Co-Players of the Game: Maine 3B Troy Carpenter (4-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R) & Maine RF Juju Stevens (1-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R)
