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Reason #14552 why I'm dying for the Bruins to sweep the Habs

I've been busy with work, but once the next week or so is over, I'll be back to blogging about BC baseball and softball.

NHL playoff time

Last night, both teams starring BC alums won their playoff openers. Pittsburgh (Andrew Orpik, Rob Scuderi, and Bill Guerin) thumped Philadelphia, 4-1 - and Bill Guerin dropped the gloves and won a convincing fight in the final seconds. 

Meanwhile, the BC-heavy Devils bounced back from their late-season slump to down Carolina, 4-1.

The Bruins begin their quest tonight and I'm hoping for a long playoff run here in Boston.

Missed opportunity for softball

BC softball (14-21) rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 6th to force extra innings with #17 ranked UMass (21-6), but the Minutemen clubbed a solo homer in the 9th inning to top the Eagles, 4-3.

It was part of an up-and-down day in BC athletics. 

The baseball team bounced back from last night's Beanpot disappointment to throttle Rhode Island, 10-0. Mickey Wiswall hit a 2-run homer and six Eagles pitchers combined to four-hit URI.

Meanwhile, the women's lacrosse team was downed by BU, 13-6.

I'm working on a feature story on new hockey recruit Patrick Wey for EagleInsider.com. I'll post a link as soon as it's up.

A Palm Sunday miracle

I passed by Shea Field in the 4th inning of yesterday's rubber game between the Eagles and the NC State Wolfpack, and saw that it was 10-2, 'Pack.

I went off and did other things for a few hours, expecting the game to be long over by the time I got back to Edmond's Hall. As I walked toward my room, I heard PA announcements coming from Shea. I joked that maybe the Eagles were in the midst of a miraculous comeback which prolonged the game.

Sure enough, that was the case. After trailing 10-2 in the 6th inning, BC scored nine runs in three innings to go up 11-10. Mike Belfiore came in and closed the door on NC State in the 9th, handing BC what was quite possibly their biggest and most exciting home win since joining the ACC.

The Eagles are now 19-10 overall and a very respectable 7-6 in ACC play. Something's brewin' at Shea Field.

BC's next game is tomorrow night against UMass in the Baseball Beanpot semifinals, to be held in Brockton's Campanelli Stadium.

Happy UConn Elimination Day

It's always a good day.

Hopefully the UConn women are next.

Hey, at least the 20% of UConn players who actually graduate still have something to look forward to...

Pack win game 1

NC State just put the finishing touches on an 8-4 victory over BC baseball at Shea Field in game 1 of today's doubleheader (yesterday's game was postponed to this morning due to rain). 

The Eagles and the Wolfpack are starting game 2 as we speak.

The football team just finished up their first scrimmage - I'll link to my story on EagleInsider.com once it's posted.

EDIT:

-LINK to EagleInsider football story

(must be a subscriber)

-BC baseball won game 2 of the doubleheader, 8-6, setting up a crucial rubber game tomorrow at 1 PM.

Two seasons - baseball, and admissions...

Hockey season's over, basketball season's over... but there are two seasons that are about to get red-hot - baseball season, and admissions season.

The BC baseball team had a successful work week, knocking off both Northeastern and UConn; they look to parlay that into ACC success this weekend against the NC State Wolfpack. But the weather is looking sketchy:

Boston, MA Weather Forecast

So it remains to be seen whether or not tomorrow's game (scheduled for 2:30 PM) actually gets played.

The other big season, admissions season, just got underway as acceptance letters are out to the BC class of 2013. In honor of that, as well as my impending journey through senior year, I have signed up to blog for BC's Student Admissions Program, giving my take on day-to-day life at BC.

You can read my contributions to the BC A&S Liberal Arts blog here.

No banners this year

And so, just like that, it's ovah. South Florida upends BC, 82-65 (although the game was much closer than that score would indicate).

Year one of the Sylvia Crawley era in BC women's basketball has come to an end, and it's safe to say that the future is bright. 

We saw, this year, a young, exciting, developing team - a team with much better physical and mental toughness than they had one year ago, more scoring threats than they had one year ago, and certainly more fun to watch than they were one year ago.

Next year's starting lineup could look a lot like this year's, with one more year of vital experience - Thoman, Picco, Brown, Murphy, Swords. Of course, it could include freshman Jasmine Gill, who really came to life during the NIT - or one of Crawley's highly-touted new recruits. Thus, I feel pretty confident that next year, the Eagles will be playing in the 'other' tournament. 

Still, it's disappointing to see this year's run come to an end. They were right there with South Florida for most of the game, and in fact led by 6 when it all started to come unglued with about 11 minutes to go. SF turned a 6 point deficit to a 10 point lead in the blink of an eye, with some deadly 3 point shooting combined with spotty BC foul shooting and just a few minutes of getting the Eagles off of their game. BC successfully pounded it inside to Swords early in the game, with a good mix of outside shots keeping the Bulls honest. But in the 2nd, SF was able to lock down on Swords. SF did a great job limiting Murphy, as well, holding her to 3 points, and the outside shooting was never quite enough to get them back into it.

I'm really sad to see Corey Rusin's career end. She truly is one of my favorite BC athletes, a hard worker, and a great person. I wish they could have made it to the final for her and Brittany Johnson and Victoria Jones.

But the season was what it was - a stepping stone. Get used to seeing BC playing in late March and maybe even early April. This program is on the rise.

WNIT: BC vs. USF preview

Read my interview with head coach Sylvia Crawley previewing tonight's WBB game between BC and South Florida here.

Baseball cruises to win

The Eagles beat up on the Northeastern Huskies 12-2 on a chilly afternoon at Shea Field to improve to 16-9 on the season.

Mike Belfiore and Tony Sanchez each hit homers for BC, while sophomore Pat Dean pitched six scoreless innings to get the win. Dean also wriggled out of a bases loaded, 0 out jam in the second inning.

BC looks  to complete the Husky 1-2 punch tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Storrs Correctional Facility to take on the Other Huskies, before hosting NC State this weekend in ACC play.

Afternoon at the ballpark

It's time for another BC baseball game, this time against Northeastern. And just like on Saturday, we're pretty blessed to have some decent weather for this one after a day of cold and rain yesterday. The start time has been moved to 3:30 to give the field some extra time to dry out.

The Eagles came back for a 6-5, 12-inning win over the Huskies at NU on March 17.

Pat Dean (2-1, 4.88 ERA)  will get the start for the Eagles, who come into the game with a 15-9 record (5-5 ACC).