“EXPECTATIONS ARE EXTERNAL.”

“The lessons weren’t wasted,” Gambino said. “So you’re seeing that all the way through. Now you got guys with another year of experience, another year of growth and development and maturity. In a lot of ways, last year was part of this year’s learning process.” the inning, making the score 5–1 in BC’s favor. reaching first. Vetrano flew out but recorded an RBI by scoring Walsh for the final run of the inning to put BC up 3–0.

After having to utilize six pitchers en route to a 19–8 loss against the Seminoles on Friday, BC sent out just five pitchers in the latter two games of the series combined—two on Saturday and three on Sunday.

West struck out five batters and earned zero runs in the first four innings of the game, and Leake registered seven strikeouts and earned zero runs in the next four innings. Despite allowing three hits and one run in the ninth inning, relief pitcher Julian Tonghini safely exited the game without a deep cut into the Eagles’ lead.

Heading into the fifth inning up 2–1, BC fired off another three runs, starting the rally with a Cameron Leary single. Despite facing two outs with Leary only advancing to second base stealing, the Eagles didn’t let the situation faze them.

After Vince Cimini reached first on a fielding error by Florida State third baseman Nander De Sedas, shifting Leary to third base, Cohl Mercado stepped up to the plate and singled through the middle of the infield. Leary safely trotted home and Cimini flew into the bag seconds later, barely avoiding the tag and adding a second run.

The Eagles added three insurance runs in the eighth inning— sparked by Travis Honeyman and Joe Vetrano reaching base as the first two batters—extending the lead to 8–1. Tonghini avoided extensive run damage in the ninth inning as the Eagles secured the win.

Saturday’s matchup against the Seminoles was all Flynn, as BC’s leader in ERA (0.91) and strikeouts (41) struck out nine batters and earned only one run in seven innings.

Programs are not built overnight. They’re not built with one conference tournament run or two seasons with a new head coach—or even a court storm over the No. 6 team in the country.

And while Boston College men’s basketball has won three ACC Tournament games in the past two years under second-year head coach Earl Grant and did in fact defeat No. 6 Virginia this season, sending a wave of BC fans onto Conte Forum’s floor, there is still work to be done within the program.

That’s not meant to take away anything from the Eagles’ accomplishments these past two seasons. Grant’s three ACC Tournament wins match Jim Christian’s ACC Tournament win total—and Christian was at the helm of the program for seven years.

Flynn gave up his only run of the game in the fourth inning, but both teams split runs in the fifth, and Flynn continued his shut-down performance all the way through the seventh inning. Andrew Roman—coming in relief for Flynn—threw the final two innings scoreless, notching the 4–2 victory.

Yes, BC’s 24-point loss to North Carolina in the second round of the ACC Tournament might understandably leave a sour taste in many BC fans’ mouths. But the reason it did is because of all of the growth that this program has endured the past two years under Grant.

For a program that hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since the 2008–09 season, any glimmer of hope opens the floodgates, inviting disappointment when lofty expectations don’t come to fruition.

“[Chris Flynn] did a great job, [John West] did a great job, [Henry] Leake did a great job, and they kept getting us back in the dugout which is critical for keeping up the offense,” Gambino said of BC’s weekend rotation. “When you get a little something going and then you go to defense and then you’re right back in the dugout, it feels like a rally at times.”

Sunday’s game in Tallahassee, Fla. featured right-handers West and Leake for four innings each.

“It was a really, really big inning,” Gambino said. “Picking up a few runs with two outs and again, it’s part of the personality of this club a little bit. Like you’re gonna fight and scrap all the way to the end, each inning, each pitch, each game all the way through.”

Mercado began tip-toeing on the base path with Barry Walsh up next, and then started ferociously running to third base attempting to steal. Florida State catcher Colton Vincent flung the ball to third, but it missed wide right, and Mercado captured the third run of

In the third inning, the first four Eagles to step up to the plate got on base. After Cimini walked, Adonys Guzman fired a single to right field, and Walsh—who leads BC in batting average with a .383—doubled down the right field line as well, scoring Cimini and advancing Guzman to third.

Florida State pitcher Jamie Arnold threw a wild pitch on the next at-bat, scoring Guzman and advancing Walsh to third, and Honeyman was then hit by a pitch,

“Expectations are external,” Gambino said. “It’s cool and I’m excited and people will start to talk about our program and all that stuff, but internally, it’s just go back to business as usual and doing our job and taking care of our thing.”

Across the Eagles’ 14 wins of the season, BC’s offense has accumulated 102 total runs.

“We wanna give the students something fun and exciting to cheer about,” Gambino said. “It’s obvious we all love what lacrosse does every season, and I’m so proud of our students, the way they have been, and our fans going to lacrosse games. The more fun things that we can give our students to do, the better.” n