The Worcester Bravehearts began the week by hosting the New Britain Bees at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field on Tuesday and got some great pitching and timely hits in a 3-1 victory.
Max LeBlanc held the Bees scoreless through the first five frames, striking out nine. Unfortunately, WooBall wasn’t able to push any runs across the plate while he was in the game, so he didn’t figure in the decision. He did win the FCBL’s “Pitcher of the Night” though, and was also named the Bravehearts’ “Player of the Game”.
In the sixth Worcester finally broke through when Marc Willi doubled home Tyler Bastunas and Jack Thorbahn for the 2-0 lead. New Britain grabbed a run in the seventh, and in the eighth Daniel Bucciero singled in Thorbahn for what would be the 3-1 final. Tyler Nielsen earned the win in relief, striking out six in three innings. Sam Gray earned the save.
It was an odd day at the HIP on Wednesday as the Brockton Rox came to town to finish a suspended game against the Bravehearts before the squads would play their regularly scheduled contest. Well, the tropical downpours and thunderstorms had other ideas, and after getting in just enough innings to make the first game official, an 8-2 win for WooBall, the rains were the winner for the day as game two was postponed.
Highlights/Interviews
Thursday it was off to Bullens Field in Westfield for WooBall to take on the Starfires, and while the Bravehearts only scored in one inning they did so a franchise record 14 times in a 14-1 thrashing of Westfield in a mercy-shortened seven innings. Down one after four innings Worcester sent 18 batters to the plate in the fifth frame. With the bases loaded Vincent Eramo singled to tie the game, and Christian Limón then followed with a two-run single for the lead. A Stan Zagrodnik double scored another, and Antonio Morales‘ sacrifice fly emptied the bases with two down.
But the Bravehearts were far from done.
Three batters later Jack Thorbahn doubled in WooBall’s sixth run of the frame, and after Worcester loaded the bases again Kevin Matos was hit by a pitch for force in a run. Eramo’s second single in the inning plated another run, and then two more scored on wild pitches. Later Zagrodnik was hit by a pitch for a painful RBI, and then Morales doubled to make it 14 runs in the frame.
Andrew Alameda earned the win and was named the FCBL’s “Pitcher of the Night”. Randy Guzman, Toby Sheidt, and Ethan Hunt all followed with scoreless innings.
The two clubs met again on Friday, this time at the HIP, but it was more of the same as the Bravehearts once again won in a mercy-shortened contest 13-3. The Starfires got an unearned run in the top of the first, but a Jack Thorbahn RBI single knotted the score in the home half. In the third Worcester took the lead on a Matty Warren RBI single, and Tyler Bastunas followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. Andrew Chronister‘s single to right plated another, and Kobe Stenson‘s three-run shot made it a six-run frame.
In the sixth Worcester put up another six-run inning, starting with Antonio Morales scoring on a wild pitch. Bastunas then singled in another run, as did Thorbahn. A Stenson sac fly made it four runs in the frame, and after Thorbahn scored on a fielder’s choice AJ Guindon singled home WooBall’s 13th run of the game.
Clay Robbins earned the win, striking out eight in five innings and allowing just that first-inning unearned run, and was named the FCBL’s “Pitcher of the Night”.
Highlights/Interviews
Brockton returned to the HIP on Saturday, and finally everything came together as the Bravehearts and Rox played a fairly quick doubleheader with Worcester sweeping the twin bill. WooBall won the opener 5-1 and followed that with a 2-1 victory in the nightcap.
Game one saw Jack Thorbahn‘s third-inning sacrifice fly give Worcester the lead. In the fourth a Greg Gorman RBI single and a Mike Maher run-scoring triple made it 3-0. In the fifth Thorbahn crushed a solo homer, and in the sixth WooBall grabbed an unearned run odd on an infield error. Dylan Vigue earned his second win of the season with a five-inning stint, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. He was named the FCBL’s “Pitcher of the Night”.
Highlights/Interviews
In game two the Rox jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first on an unearned run, but in the home half, Kobe Stenson tied it with a solo homer. Andrew Chronister‘s fifth-inning sacrifice fly proved to be the difference in the 2-1 win. Starter Griffin O’Connor pitched well but did not figure in the decision, scattering four hits while allowing just that unearned run, striking out four. Champ Davis earned the win with three frames of perfect relief.
Highlights/Interviews
Sunday was supposed to be Worcester playing in Nashua, but like the remainder of the FCBL schedule the game was postponed due to rain.
210Sports’ Bravehearts of the week
Pitcher: Champ Davis is this week’s winner, retiring all nine batters he faced in just 21 pitches.
Batter: Kobe Stenson gets the nod for the second week in a row, going 4-9 with three HR and eight RBI in four games. He also scored five runs and walked three times.
This week’s opponents
Monday at Norwich, 6:30pm
Tuesday off day
Wednesday at Vermont, 6:30pm
Thursday at Vermont, 6:30pm
Friday at Pittsfield, 6:30pm
Saturday at Pittsfield, 6pm
Sunday vs Norwich, 4pm
Tickets to Bravehearts home games can be purchased online or by calling (508) 438-3773.
Around the FCBL
Tuesday
@Norwich 6, Pittsfield 1
@Brockton 5, Westfield 4
@Vermont 5, Nashua 2
Wednesday
@Norwich 10, Nashua 4
Vermont 11, @Westfield 8
New Britain @ Pittsfield; ppd, rain
Thursday
@Nashua 9, Norwich 3
Pittsfield 11, @Brockton 5
@Vermont 5, New Britain 4
Friday
@Pittsfield 5, Norwich 1 (game 1, 7 innings)
Norwich 13, Pittsfield 5 (game 2, 7 innings)
@Brockton 6, Nashua 5 (10 innings)
Vermont 7, New Britain 3
Saturday
@Norwich 5, Vermont 2
@New Britain 11, Pittsfield 10
Westfield 6, @Nashua 1 (game 1, 7 innings)
@Nashua 2, Westfield 0 (game 2, 7 innings)
Sunday
New Britain @ Brockton; ppd, rain
Westfield @ Pittsfield; ppd, rain
Vermont 0, @Norwich 0; susp, top 1st, rain
For frequent updates on the Worcester Bravehearts follow @210Darryl and @210Sports on Twitter.
—
Got something you loved (or hated) about the post? Head on over to the 210Sports Facebook page and leave a comment. You could comment on this post too, but fair warning, the spam filter catches lots of stuff it shouldn’t and it might be weeks before we see your comment. While you’re there, please give the page a like and a follow.
-30-
210Sports 