BRIGHTON, Mass. — Before the start of the season, Boston College baseball head coach Todd Interdonato did the math.
If the Eagles reached the 20-win mark in non-conference play and the 15-win mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference, they would realistically be guaranteed an NCAA Tournament bid.
While BC completed the latter of the two milestones earlier in the season — with a 7-6 triumph over Notre Dame on April 26 — it was still looking for a pair of victories heading into this weekend’s series against NJIT to reach 20 wins in out-of-league competition.
The No. 22-ranked Eagles did not quite get there by sundown on Sunday, dropping the first game of the series 8-7 before rebounding later in the day with a 6-3 win over the Highlanders (16-28-1, 6-15 AE), but they came close enough, according to Interdonato.
“Our guys have done a great job of [not looking big picture] all year,” said Interdonato. “We set out at the beginning of the year to go 20-6 in non-conference, and we went 19-7, right? We don’t go 19-7 in non-conference games if we don’t have the ability to block that [big-picture] stuff out and just focus day to day. So I told those guys out there [that] I have a ton of faith in them.”
Next weekend, BC (36-17, 17-10 ACC) closes out its 2026 regular season with a three-game series against No. 3 Georgia Tech, and Interdonato could not be more thrilled to see if his squad can build onto a record-setting year in terms of conference play against one of the best in the country.
“I can’t wait,” Interdonato said. “You know, the ability to compete is why we all do this. … So for us, it’s just another chance to compete. We get to finish at home this year, which is great. … But bringing this team in, [a] top-five team, first-place team in the league. I have no doubt our guys are gonna be ready.”
The first contest of Sunday’s doubleheader was practically decided by an umpire’s official call on a ground-rule double that occurred in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Eagles entered the bottom of the frame down 8-4 after NJIT scored five in the top of the fifth on Cole Campbell’s RBI single, Brody Levin’s RBI single, and Dillon Can’s three-run homer off of BC reliever Cesar Gonzalez, so they needed a response of some kind.
Second baseman Ty Mainolfi walked in the leadoff position and advanced to second on Gunnar Johnson’s groundout, but Luke Gallo’s strikeout put the Eagles in a tough position.
However, Kyle Wolff and Danny Surowiec recorded back-to-back walks to load the bases, forcing the Highlanders to take a mound visit.
Instead of making a pitching change, starter Josh Willitts stayed on the bump, but his fate immediately worsened as Ben Williams crunched a ball deep into right field.
Instead of just trickling into the corner, the ball became wedged inside the wall along the right-field foul line, and NJIT’s right fielder tossed his hands up before even attempting to make a play — signaling that he was unable to field the hit properly.
The ball was still visible, however, and he ended up scooping it right up and tossing it back to the mound after the umpires stopped Surowiec from rounding into home plate, which would have cut BC’s deficit to just one run.
There was even a possibility that Williams could have run all the way to home himself, which would have made it an inside-the-park grand slam.
Ben with the double to the wall to bring in two runs! pic.twitter.com/0lUKFH3Rey
— Boston College Baseball (@BCBirdBall) May 10, 2026
After an official review, however, the ground-rule double stayed, keeping the Highlanders in the front seat at 8-6.
“He refused to give me an explanation,” Interdonato said of the umpire’s call. “And they were wrong. Like they were just dead wrong, so that was why he didn’t give me an explanation.”
In the bottom of the sixth, Gallo lifted an RBI single up the middle to make it a one-score game, but the Eagles only reached base twice in the ensuing three innings, resulting in the 8-7 loss.
“That’s just baseball,” Wolff, who homered in the fourth inning of the game, said. “Sometimes the ball rolls your way, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s how you respond. They got the best of us in the first game, but we came back and responded in the second game.”
The 🐺 launches one deep to left
NJIT 3 BC 2 pic.twitter.com/UV6dT9fRSK
— Boston College Baseball (@BCBirdBall) May 10, 2026
The second matchup of the doubleheader saw lefty A.J. Colarusso, BC’s typical Friday starter, take the mound initially, and he pitched nearly flawlessly, racking up four strikeouts and surrendering only two hits.
Unlike game No. 1, BC jumped into the lead first with two runs in the bottom of the initial frame thanks to Wolff’s RBI single and Esteban Garcia’s RBI double, but NJIT answered with two runs in the top of the fourth and one run in the top of the fifth to take a 3-2 lead.
Those runs were all scored against lefty reliever Tyler Mudd — normally the Eagles’ Sunday starter.
“It felt like every time we made a mistake on the mound, they hit it on the hill,” Interdonato said.
BC did not let the Highlanders’ slight edge impact on its mentality, though, and it wasted no time with a comeback rally that kicked off in the bottom of the fifth.
Again, with two outs, the Eagles’ bats got hot, as Solier singled and Nick Wang doubled in consecutive at-bats for a pair of runs, establishing a 4-3 advantage for the hosts.
Wang doubles in Julio to make it 4-3🦅 pic.twitter.com/sTlvlYJuMV
— Boston College Baseball (@BCBirdBall) May 10, 2026
After a pitching change, BC went back to work at the plate immediately, scoring its fifth run of the game with Johnson’s RBI double.
Anthony Azaldi’s balk with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth increased the Eagles’ lead to 6-3, and the combined relief pitching of Sean Hard, Kyle Kipp, and Gavin Soares in the final four innings finished the job.
Back to back Ks for Sean! pic.twitter.com/MQ4rPLOTTm
— Boston College Baseball (@BCBirdBall) May 10, 2026
“I thought Sean, Kyle, and Gavin were just electric out of the pen,” Interdonato said. “I was really pleased with the day in terms of the way we competed and the way we focused, and getting out of here with a split after the first game, like I feel great.”
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