Illustration: Eamonn Bonner

On May 30, the Boston College baseball team battled and battled the country’s top-ranked University of Texas Longhorns for 25 innings in the longest game in NCAA history. The Eagles eventually lost 3–2, but not before the two teams had rewritten the record books.

Playing in their first NCAA tournament since 1967, the Eagles rode a six-run ninth inning to an 8–7 victory over Texas State on May 29, setting the stage for a matchup with Texas at 6 p.m. the following evening in Austin. Texas jumped ahead with a two-run second inning, but Boston College tied the game with runs in the fourth and sixth. The score held at 2–2 for another 18-plus innings. In the top of the 25th, Texas’s Travis Tucker broke the stalemate with an RBI single. The Eagles failed to answer in their half of the frame, bringing an end to the game early Sunday morning, after seven hours and three minutes.

The extra innings featured an epic duel between the teams’ closers. Texas reliever Austin Wood entered the game in the seventh and proceeded to strike out 14 batters in 13 innings, including 12.1 innings of no-hit ball. Eagles closer Mike Belfiore ’10 took the mound in the ninth inning and allowed three hits in 9.2 scoreless innings. The game set NCAA records for strikeouts (42), plate appearances (192), and at-bats (171). Two Texas players set NCAA records for at-bats in a game, with 12 apiece. The teams combined for 683 pitches thrown (including 298 by Belfiore and Wood). The previous longest NCAA game was 23 innings, played by University of Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State in 1971.

In an elimination game that took place the next day, Boston College lost 4–3 to Army, but the team was not finished scoring. On June 9, catcher Tony Sanchez ’10 was chosen fourth overall in the Major League Baseball draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, the highest pick ever for a Boston College player. Sanchez was also a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award, which is given annually to the country’s best college catcher. Belfiore was the 45th pick, chosen by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pitcher J.B. MacDonald ’09 and infielder/outfielder Barry Butera ’10 were also chosen, both by the Houston Astros.