Boston College, Northeastern, and Holy Cross baseball teams all drop openers of NCAA Tournament

The Boston College baseball team carried a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning of its matchup with Liberty in the Athens Regional of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, but took the loss when the Flames rallied for a pair of runs for a 4-3 win.

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The Eagles fell behind, 2-0, in the first inning, but that was all lefthander A.J. Colarusso allowed, as the Leominster native scattered 10 hits across seven innings.

BC clawed back, pulling even on a pair of home runs from sophomore Julio Solier, in the fifth and seventh innings. The Springfield Central product entered with just one homer in 56 games this season but took Liberty starter Ben Blair deep to center field twice.

The Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the eighth on Jack Toomey’s solo home run. The Wellesley native’s drive to right just cleared the fence at 314 feet and had BC just three outs away from a win.

After Liberty was able to regain the lead in the top of the ninth, Solier came to the plate with two outs and a runner on second, but he lined out to center field to end the game.

BC (36-22) will play in Saturday’s elimination game against the loser of Friday night’s contest between Georgia and Long Island University.

The Northeastern baseball team pushed for a comeback at host No. 15 Kansas, but ultimately fell short in a 6-3 loss in their first game in the Lawrence Regional of the NCAA Tournament at Hoglund Ballpark on Friday.

Kansas jumped out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to a two-run homer from Augusto Mungarrieta and a solo shot from Dariel Osoria in the second inning. And after Natick native Will Forsberg hit a solo homer in the third inning to get a run back for the Huskies, Tyson LeBlanc responded with a solo home run of his own in the third inning to make it 4-1.

But Northeastern kept fighting. Franklin native Henry DiGiorgio drove in Uxbridge’s Charlie Criscola on a fielder’s choice to second base in the fifth inning, and Criscola drove in Franklin native Ryan Gerety on a ground out to third base in the sixth inning to bring the Huskies within one.

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Kansas (43-16) broke the game open in the eighth though, with LeBlanc and Cade Baldridge driving in runs on singles to give the Jayhawks a three-run lead heading into the ninth. After Dominic Voegele allowed three runs in seven innings with nine strikeouts as Kansas’ starter, Boede Rahe came in to pitch two shutout innings and collect a save.

Gerety went 3 for 4 with a triple, and accounted for nearly half of Northeastern’s seven hits on the day. Luc Rising took the loss for the Huskies, surrendering four runs on four hits in 3⅔ innings.

Northeastern (38-21) will face the loser of Friday’s late game between No. 13 Arkansas and Missouri State in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon.

The Holy Cross baseball team surrendered six home runs in a 19-1 blowout loss to host No. 6 Texas in their first game of the Austin Regional of the NCAA tournament on Friday.

The Longhorns (41-13) scored at least one run in all eight innings that they took at-bats, and hit their most home runs as a team in a postseason game in school history. The Longhorns also matched their largest-ever margin of victory in a postseason win.

Freshman star Anthony Pack Jr. went 3 for 3 with 3 homers, 5 RBIs, 4 runs, and a walk. Jayden Duplantier, who replaced Pack Jr. in left field in the sixth inning after the Longhorns took an 11-0 lead, hit a grand slam in his first at-bat. Leadoff hitter Aiden Robbins homered twice in a 2-for-5 day as well.

John Lafleur, who went 2 for 4, drove in the Crusaders’ only run of the day on a single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.

Holy Cross (25-29) will face the loser of Friday’s late game between UC Santa-Barbara and Tarleton State in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon.

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