Boston College Outpitches Tar Heels to Take Game One

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—The six-game win streak has come to an end. After the 14-inning marathon on Tuesday, there was no Bosh magic left late on Thursday night as a hot Boston College team prevailed 6-1.  

The numbers tell the story: BC advanced 18 runners compared to the Tar Heels’ three. Here are the takeaways from UNC’s opening game loss to Boston College:

Overreactions

It is one ACC game; there is no need for fans to crawl into the hole of sadness or brimstone. AJ Colarusso has had UNC’s number before, putting up a similar stat line last time he saw the Tar Heels at the DBAP in May in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. 

UNC’s offensive numbers were ugly: 2-12 when hitting with runners on, 12 strikeouts, and 0-5 with runners in scoring position. Scott Forbes did emphasize the quality at bat chart his team uses and said that he did like a lot of the swings and at-bats his team had by either stretching the BC arms into long counts or putting the screws on the ball. 

This UNC team has churned out offense when down in late games, but Thursday was just not one of those nights.

The Big Pitches

A large differentiator in the game was the pitching. But specifically, the big pitches in situations with runs on the line. BC won in that scenario and won big, as Colarusso and Cesar Gonzalez executed on that front. 

Big pitches include: Lee Sowers pinch hit at bat in the ninth that went to a full count resulting in a K looking, getting Cooper Nicholson to miss entirely on a fastball after a nine-pitch at bat with a runner on second, and getting Erik Paulsen swinging to end the 7th. 

The pitch mixing by Colarusso with his sneaky four offering mix and the decision making by Gonzalez resulted in those 12 UNC strikeouts, an inability to find grass, and thus an inability to move runners. 

A Blue Bright Spot

For the best fielding team in the conference, the two errors were not optimal. But the Tar Heel defense did happen to turn three double plays (5th inning, 8th, 9th), helping keep pitch counts low and stranding BC base runners. 

Jake Schaffner is still back on the up, going 3-for-5 with no strikeouts, while Paulsen and Owen Hull both recorded two-hit games.  

North Carolina hosts BC for game two Friday at 5 p.m. Jason DeCaro will start on the mound for UNC.