Bravehearts

Worcester, MA -  In the middle of a tight playoff push, the Brockton Rox came to Worcester and defeated the Bravehearts 8-6. 

The Rox were first to get on the board in the third inning. Spenser Smith led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on an error by right fielder John Thrasher. Smith advanced to third on a ground-out and scored on a sac-fly by Gaby Cruz. 

In the fifth, Eddy Hart started the inning by reaching on an error by shortstop Tyler Becker. He advanced to second on a Gabe Giosso single. Anthony Calarco then hit in Hart to increase the lead to 2-0. 

The lead was cut in half in the fifth inning. PJ Barry singled, but was thrown out at second on a fielder’s choice ground ball off the bat of Mariano Ricciardi. With Ricciardi on first, Thrasher reached on an error allowing Ricciardi to go to third. Paul Coumoulos singled in Ricciardi for the first Bravehearts run of the night.

The scoring continued in the sixth. Tyler Becker led off the inning with a triple, and was hit home on a Ben McNeill single. McNeill advanced to third on a Riley Livingston single and scored on a passed ball to give the Bravehearts the lead for the first time of the night. 

After two straight singles by Hart and Cruz, reliever Chris Macca was pulled in favor of Jakob Barker in the seventh inning. Barker walked Giosso followed by Barker hitting Calarco to bring in Hart. Marc Goulart than hit a triple to score all three runs. An error by third basemen McNeill on the cut-off allowed Goulart to score as well to make the score 7-3. 

Worcester answered in the bottom half of the inning. Mack Cheli led off the inning with a double and McNeill followed with a single. PJ Barry was hit to load the bases, and Trevor Johnson drove all three runs home with a bases clearing double to make the score 7-6. 

JP Knight increased the lead for Brockton in the ninth with a solo home run off of Bryce Hellgeth.

Reliever Jakob Barker took the loss for Worcester, while Tyler Bell got the win for Brockton.  

Worcester has an off-day on Wednesday before traveling to Pittsfield on Thursday. They return home on Friday against the Nashua Silver Knights.