The Hokies travel to Boston College this weekend with the possibility of doing something that would have been considered almost impossible just 3 short months ago – WIN THE COASTAL DIVISION AND CLINCH THE #1 SEED FOR THE ACC TOURNAMENT!!!

A 3 game sweep of the Eagles makes everything nice and simple – the Hokies will win BOTH the Coastal Division and the Overall #1 seed for the Conference Tournament. Two wins clinches the Coastal and probably gets the Hokies the #1 seed via tiebreakers with FSU. One win would potentially tie the Hokies with UNC for the Coastal IF the Heels sweep Louisville, and the Hokies would lose the tiebreaker. And no wins – we’re not even going to go there!

Boston College comes into the VT series with an overall record 0f 16-29, 4-14 in the ACC. Their four conference wins are over Louisville (8-4), NC State (4-3), and two wins over Syracuse (4-3, 10-2). They have not only lost 4 of their last five games, but have failed to score in those 4 games (3 versus FSU and a single game versus Holy Cross). The loss of Holy Cross was their first against the Crusaders since 1996 and only the 2nd in the series (2-25), but they did bounce back in the Wednesday game with a 6-1 win.

Statistically, the Eagles have played a tougher schedule than the Hokies, with 19 games against team in the Top 50 RPI, However, they have lost 18 of those and in their 6 games against Top 25 competition (FSU, Texas, and JMU), and the Eagles have tallied just one run.

The Eagles hitting statistics reflect their record as they are 11th in the ACC in batting average at .236, and last in runs scored (44), and home runs (15). The Eagles also do not run much, having stolen only 35 bases in 50 attempts.

Their leading hitters are Lexi DiEmmanuele (.325 average, 16/25 in SBs), who bats leadoff, and Emme Martinez (.306), who has been batting second their last few games.

Boston College ranks 10th in the ACC in pitching with a Team ERA of 4.59, and are 11th in strikeouts (208 Ks in 279.1 innings). They do lead the conference in hit batsmen with 57 and have walked twice the number of hitters (194-91) as the Hokies.

The workhorse of the BC staff is Freshman Suzannah Anderson (5-17, 3.61 ERA), from Alexandria, VA, who has started 28 of the Eagles games and pitched over half their innings this season (155/287). Freshman Cameron Dolby (9-9), 5.62 ERA) has 13 starts, including the win over Louisville. Senior Kendra Friedt (2-1, 4.27 ERA) got only her 3rd start of the year Wednesday against Holy Cross and pitched a complete game 3 hitter.

A broader player comparison is listed below as well as the Tale of the Tape.

On January 29th, the ACC released its preseason softball poll and the Hokies were picked to finish 10th, just behind the Eagles, who were picked 9th. The Hokies did receive one 1st place vote, from FSU Coach Lonni Alameda. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the Hokies could make Alemeda look like Kreskin this weekend????

That bC win over Louisville shows that the Eagles are capable of beating the Hokies, but Coach Pete tweeted that the Hokies had an “A+ Effort and Practice” yesterday and if they get to Boston with that mentality, it could be a really, really good weekend.

The Hokies lead the all-time series with BC 36-8, so 39 has now become my favorite number this weekend. Massey has the Hokies with a 90% probability to win with BC and I hope he’s as smart as I think he is.

First game is at 6:00 Friday and unfortunately it looks like no television of any type for these games.

Let’s Go Hokies