CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — No. 2-seed Boston College Baseball is set to play No. 3-seed Liberty on Friday in game one of the Athens Regional in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
Return to the NCAA Tournament
The Eagles are back in the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time in program history and first since 2023.
Number-3 overall seed Georgia and Boston College are joined by three-seed Liberty and four-seed LIU.
BC is coming off its greatest regular season in program history after totaling a program-record 17 wins in ACC play with 36 wins overall, tied for the second-most in a single season in program history.
The Eagles picked up key Quad 1 wins along the way, including two wins at then No. 24 Miami, and wins at then No. 6 North Carolina, at then No. 10 NC State, and at Clemson.
Eagles in the NCAA Tournament
In 12 previous trips to the NCAA Tournament, BC is 25-25 overall. The last appearance came in 2023, when the Eagles went 2-2 at the Tuscaloosa Regional.
Boston College dropped the opener to Troy, 11-10, before bouncing back with a 14-6 win over Nicholls and a 4-1 victory over Troy to advance to the regional final, falling to the hosts, Alabama, 8-0.
The prior trip in 2016 saw the Eagles sweep their way out of the Oxford Regional with two wins over Tulane and one over Utah to advance to the Coral Gables Super Regional. After falling in the opener to Miami, BC responded with a 5-3 win to force a game three with a trip to the College World Series on the line, but the Hurricanes claimed the victory to advance to Omaha.
Three Eagles Earn All-ACC Honors
A.J. Colarusso, Nick Wang, and Luke Gallo received All-ACC recognition following the conclusion of the regular season. Colarusso and Wang were named to the third team, while Gallo earned a spot on the All-Freshman team.
Colarusso went 4-3 in league play over 10 starts, picking up wins against No. 9 Virginia, No. 6 North Carolina, Duke, and Clemson. The senior posted a 4.97 ERA with a team-high 46 strikeouts.
Wang started all 30 league games, batting .280 while leading the team in home runs (7) and total bases (58), and sitting second in RBI with 22. Gallo also started all 30 ACC games and led the team in batting average with .350 and finished with 35 hits, 22 RBI, and 45 total bases.
The Matchup
Game one of the Athens Regional will feature A.J. Colarusso and Ben Blair. Colarusso enters the game with a 5-4 record across a team-high 15 starts. He boasts a 4.62 ERA with 71 strikeouts and 81 hits allowed over 76 innings. Blair, the CUSA Pitcher of the Year, has a 3.61 ERA and 106 strikeouts over 87.1 innings pitched.
Scouting the Flames
Liberty is 41-19 overall and posted a 21-9 record in Conference USA. The Flames recently fell to Jacksonville State in the CUSA title game 10-0.
Shortstop Tanner Marsh was named the CUSA Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year and leads Liberty with a .333 batting average, 83 hits, and 67 runs. The Flames are led on the mound by CUSA Pitcher of the Year Ben Blair, who was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List.
Up Next
Depending on the result, Boston College will play either No. 1 seed Georgia or No. 4 seed LIU on Saturday at either 12:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. The broadcast network will be determined following the game between Georgia and LIU on Friday evening.
