Pitching effective despite close loss

Boston College sent seven different pitchers to the mound in yesterday's non-conference clash with UConn, never giving the Huskies more than two innings or 36 pitches to settle in against any one of them.

While UConn's approach was more conventional, with starter Matt McDonald handing the game over to reliever Dusty Odenbach to start the eighth and senior closer David Erickson taking the ball for the ninth, the Huskies were unable to hold on for the win as the Eagles plated a pair of runs in the final frame.

It's a formula coach Jim Penders has touted all season as one of his team's selling points - the ability of UConn's starters to pitch deep into ballgames, and an effective relief corps to finish them - and he won't stray from it after Erickson's mishap yesterday.

"Matty McDonald pitched a great game, he was awesome today," Penders said. "I couldn't have asked for anything better from him or Dusty and David Erickson - sometimes that goes along with being a closer, sometimes the luck doesn't go your way but he's our man, he'll be back out there Friday if we have a game to close."

McDonald turned in a stellar performance, leaving the game with a shot at his third victory, and recording a season-high eight strikeouts. His only trouble came when Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez was at the plate. Sanchez broke up McDonald's shutout in the fourth inning, lifting a fly ball just out of the reach of leftfielder Peter Fatse for a two-run homer. He ripped another one of McDonald's offerings for a long solo homerun in the top of the sixth, pulling the Eagles to within one at 4-3. Penders pointed to the senior's command of the full complement of his pitches as the key to his success.

"He had all of his stuff working," Penders said. "He was downhill with his fastball, he's hitting his spots, he was down in the zone, flipping his breaking ball when he had to, also had a good changeup to the lefties too."

Odenbach pitched out of a jam in the eighth, stranding a pair of Boston College runners with a swinging strikeout of third baseman Mickey Wiswall to end the frame after starting him off with three straight balls. He now has 26 punchouts in 16.2 innings pitched on the year, making him Penders' go-to set-up option.

"He's really done a great job," Penders said. "He's been a very reliable weapon out of the bullpen, he's got a lot of confidence in all his pitches, he executed some when he had to, coming back from 3-0 to get that guy was huge."

Erickson's struggles in the ninth were partially self-induced - he hit a batter and threw two wild pitches - and Penders doesn't expect repeats of yesterday to happen too often. The senior had converted four out of his first five save chances in 2009. Penders lauded Boston College's quick hook strategy - whether it was intentional or just a way to give their pitching staff some midweek non-conference work - for keeping the Huskies at bay.

"It can be very effective," Penders said of the Eagles' method. "It's tough to get your timing down, seeing a different arm all the time, I'm sure they wanna get ready for the weekend, just like we do too."

The Huskies head to Seton Hall this weekend for another Big East three-game series.