Wednesday morning saw the start of the Worcester Bravehearts’ 2026 Futures Collegiate Baseball League regular season as they traveled west down the Mass Pike to take on the Westfield Starfires, and WooBall used four innings of shutout relief by Gavin Price to help earn a 6-4 victory.
The Bravehearts got runs in each of the first three innings on a Tate Banish first-inning RBI single, a second-inning John Ramsey RBI groundout, and a third-frame solo homer by Benny Hess. It was 3-3 in the sixth when Dante Ruby earned a painful RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and then Ryan Keating followed with a walk to score another run. Alan Carpenter added an insurance run in the ninth with an RBI single.
Price was awarded the FCBL’s “Pitcher of the Night” for his four-inning effort, striking out four while allowing just a single hit.
Thursday morning was Worcester’s home opener as they hosted the Vermont Lake Monsters at Fitton Field for the first of a pair of matchups during the week between the teams, and it was all Vermont early as they jumped out to a big lead and then held on to hand WooBall an 8-6 loss in front of 2,070 school kids.
Down 6-0 after three, the Bravehearts were able to close the gap to a single run after a four-run fourth-inning, highlighted by a Riggs Catlin two-run triple. A fifth-inning run scored on an infield out cut it down to a 6-5 Lake Monsters lead, but Vermont would get two in the eighth to put the game out of reach. A Tate Banish‘s RBI single in the ninth wasn’t enough to overcome that final deficit.
It was the same two teams on Friday, and while the score was different, the result was the same, as Vermont scored the final seven runs of the game to take the second game of the mini-series 7-3.
This time, it was WooBall who came out of the gates quickly, scoring a second-inning run on a Cole Travers RBI single to left and adding two runs in the third on Benny Hess‘ double. But it was all Lake Monsters the rest of the way, spoiling a combined 3.1 shutout innings from Bravehearts relievers Kyle McLaughlin, Zach Duke, and Andrew Hardin.
After an off-day on Saturday, Worcester headed south to Dodd Stadium to take on the Norwich Sea Unicorns and after trailing for most of the game, WooBall put up eight runs in the eighth inning to take the Sunday matinee 10-5. Down a run after two, the Bravehearts briefly took the lead by scoring two in the top of the third on a throwing error and an infield out. In the home half, Norwich would grab three runs for a 4-2 lead.
It stayed that score until the eighth when Riggs Catlin doubled in two to tie the score. Alan Carpenter would give WooBall the lead with an RBI single on the very next pitch. Brayden Cali‘s bunt single would plate another run, followed by RBI hits from Gill Dolan and Will Kraemer. Danny Tambascia would then double both of them home.
Erik Swenson earned the win with one inning of scoreless relief.
210Sports’ Bravehearts of the week
Pitcher: Gavin Price id this week’s winning, earning a win on opening day and adding one inning of scoreless relief on Sunday.
Batter: Tate Bannish gets the nod this week, going 6-13 with a double, three runs, and a stolen base in three games
This week’s opponents
Monday: at Westfield Starfires, 10:30 AM
Tuesday: vs Lowell Spinners, 10:30 AM
Wednesday: vs Lowell Spinners, 10:30 AM
Thursday: at New Britain Bees, 10:30 AM
Friday: at Nashua Silver Knights, 6:03 PM
Saturday: at Lowell Spinners, 5:00 PM
Sunday: vs Norwich Sea Unicorns, 4:00 PM
Tickets to Bravehearts home games can be purchased online or by calling (508) 438-3773.
Around the FCBL
Wednesday
Vermont 6, @ Nashua 3
@ New Britain 11, Lowell 5
Thursday
@ Westfield 8, Nashua 5
@ New Britain 4, Norwich 3
Friday
@ Westfield 17, Norwich 0; 7 innings, mercy
Nashua 5, @ Lowell 3
Saturday
@ Vermont 8, New Britain 5
@ Norwich 10, Westfield 3
@ Nashua 11, Lowell 1; 7 innings, mercy
Sunday
Westfield 9, @ Lowell 3
New Britain 10, @ Vermont 9
For frequent updates on the Worcester Bravehearts follow @210Darryl and @210Sports on Twitter.
—
Do you have 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.
You can also follow along and comment on the following sites:
Twitter/X (210Darryl), Twitter/X (210Sports), Bluesky, and Mastodon.
-30-
210Sports 
Leave a comment