Box Score (PDF)
DURHAM, N.C. – The Notre Dame baseball team fell in a 5-4 late night contest in ten innings against Boston College in the ACC Tournament as the final out was recorded at 1:45 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
Rory Fox got off to a strong start in the top of the first needing just three pitches to strike out the lead-off man for the Eagles before inducing a grounder and striking out the third batter for a quick one-two-three effort. DM Jefferson and Carson Tinney hit back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom half of the inning to get things going for the Irish offense. Two batters later, Parker Brzustewicz went the other way with a ground-rule double to drive in Jefferson for the first run of the game. Connor Hincks then used a sacrifice fly to drive in Tinney for a 2-0 advantage for the Irish.
The Eagles used a two-out, three-run home run in the top of the second to shift the lead to the visiting side. The Irish put a pair on board in the bottom half of the inning after Nick DeMarco laced a single and DM Jefferson drew a walk, but Notre Dame was unable to push a run across. Boston College added another run in the top of the third with a safety squeeze bunt to make it a 4-2 game in favor of the Eagles.
Fox dialed up back-to-back strikeouts in the top of the fourth to retire the side in order for the Irish defense. Estevan Moreno then blasted the first pitch of his at-bat well over the left-center field wall to make it a one-run game through four complete. Fox then worked his way out of a jam after the Eagles put a pair on base with two outs in the top of the fifth as the junior used three pitches to get a strikeout to end the inning.
Estevan Moreno drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the sixth, and Jared Zimbardo went opposite field with a double to put a pair of runners into scoring position. Nick DeMarco was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for the Irish. Brady Gumpf drew a walk to plate Moreno to knot the game at 4-4.
The Eagles put runners on the corners with just one out gone in the top of the seventh. After a review brought a Boston College batter back to bat, Ricky Reeth dialed up a big strikeout for the second out of the stanza. The Irish then kept Boston College off the scoreboard with a bang-bang play at the plate that saw Carson Tinney dive to tag out a runner after a pitch got past the Notre Dame catcher and took a fortunate bounce off the backstop to set up the play at the dish.
Ricky Reeth made quick work of the…