Boston College Baseball defeated ninth-ranked Virginia, 5-3, in the first of a three-game series on Mar. 27 at Chestnut Hill.
The win gives Boston College a strong start to the weekend series and improves their record to 19-8 overall and 7-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, while Virginia falls to 21-6 overall and 6-3 in conference games.
A.J. Colarusso started for the Eagles, pitching six innings with a career-high 113 pitches. He struck out six batters and allowed only one unearned run before being replaced by Cesar Gonzalez, who threw three innings to earn his first save of the season.
Boston College began scoring in the second inning when Carter Hendrickson singled and was advanced by Luke Gallo’s sacrifice bunt. Kyle Wolff then hit his first home run of the season, giving Boston College a two-run lead. Virginia responded with a run in the fourth inning but Colarusso ended that threat with his sixth strikeout.
The Eagles extended their lead through aggressive base running and timely hitting. Jack Toomey stole third base and scored on an overthrow by Virginia’s catcher in the sixth inning. In the seventh, Gunnar Johnson walked, advanced on a bunt from Colin Larson, stole third base, and scored on Julio Solier’s single; Solier later scored on Nick Wang’s double to make it 5-1.
Virginia rallied for two runs with two outs in the ninth inning after back-to-back doubles but Gonzalez closed out the game by inducing a groundout from Julio Solier to end any further comeback attempt.
The teams will meet again tomorrow for game two of their weekend series.
