The Worcester Bravehearts began their 2023 Futures Collegiate Baseball League playoff run Tuesday night at Centennial Field in Burlington, Vermont in game one of their best of three series against the Lake Monsters, and in a game that took two days to complete WooBall fell 7-2.
After giving up a run in the bottom of the first WooBall tied it in the top of the second when Kevin Matos walked, stole second, and scored on an infield error. But in the bottom of the frame, two bad things happened, Vermont scored twice and then the rains came, suspending the remainder of the game until Wednesday.
When the game resumed Vermont added another run in the frame to make it 4-1 after two, and the only other run Worcester would score was on an Andrew Chronister RBI double.
One tweet perfectly describes Thursday night for the FCBL…
So now game two, originally scheduled for Wednesday, was Friday at the HIP and it ended up being worth the wait as the Bravehearts won 7-5 to send the series back to Vermont for a deciding game three. A Jack Thorbahn two-run double opened the scoring in the home half of the first, and after a Lake Monster run in the top of the second a Nathan Samii triple scored two more for WooBall, and a Tyler Bastunas sacrifice fly added another.
Vermont closed the gap to 5-4 after four and a half frames when Vincent Eramo homered in the bottom of the fifth to give the Bravehearts a bit of a cushion. Daniel Bucciero added a solo home run in the seventh for the eventual 7-5 final.
Jack Beauchesne earned the win in relief, and Dylan Vigue picked up the save. Starter Clay Robbins was named the FCBL “Pitcher of the Night”.
Highlights/Interviews
It was back to Vermont for the deciding game three, and things were going well for starting pitcher JT Raab and the Bravehearts until the end of the fourth inning when, you guessed it, the skies opened up and it began raining again. Once they got back to playing almost two and a half hours later it was unfortunately all Lake Monsters as Worcester was eliminated with a 6-1 loss. Kevin Matos‘ ninth-inning solo homer run was the only run WooBall could muster.
210Sports’ Bravehearts of the week
Pitcher: JT Raab is the playoff week winner, going four shutout innings before the rains came on Saturday,
Batter: Jack Thorbahn gets the nod for playoff week, going 3-10 with a double and two RBI.
This week’s opponents
See you next season!
Tickets to Bravehearts home games can be purchased online or by calling (508) 438-3773.
Around the FCBL
Tuesday
@Norwich 3, New Brittain 2; NOR leads 1-0
Wednesday
@New Britain 3, Norwich 2; series tied 1-1
Thursday
New Britain @ Norwich; ppd, rain
Friday
@Norwich 12, new Britain 3; NOR wins 2-1
Sunday
For frequent updates on the Worcester Bravehearts follow @210Darryl and @210Sports on Twitter.
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