Bravehearts

Brockton, MA —  The sun was shining today at Campanelli Stadium and so were the Worcester Bravehearts as they beat the Brockton Rox in both games of a doubleheader, 4-1 and 7-6. The first game was rescheduled from a regularly scheduled game on June 6th.

 

In game one, the Bravehearts showed dominance on both sides of the ball with their pitching and hitting.

 

Sebastian Gruszecki started the game for Worcester. He got his first win, going four and a third innings, striking out four, and only allowing one run on three hits. Tyler Lonestar came on in the fifth with one out and instantly got out of the inning, stranding Gruszecki’s runner at first. Lonestar pitched 2 2/3 innings allowing neither a hit nor a run and striking out three along the way.

    

Designated hitter Brett Coffel went 2-2 in game one. Brett sent a solo home run deep over the left field wall to give the Bravehearts a 1-0 lead in the second inning, followed by an RBI single in the fourth to help bring the Bravehearts ahead 2-1. Joe Caico continues to flourish after hitting a two-run home run to deep right, tacking onto the Bravehearts lead of 4-1. Caico stays atop the leaderboard in the league, leading everyone with six home runs.

 

As most Bravehearts players do Brett Coffel was quick to put the win on the team’s shoulders despite his effort.

 

“It was a good win, a good team win, Gruszecki threw well, kept us in the game the whole time, and Lonestar came in and did his job as well,” said Coffel.

 

The Bravehearts truly did show heart as they also took game two of a doubleheader 7-6 in a come-from-behind win over Brockton.

 

Jakob Barker got the nod in game two looking for his first win of the season. Barker came short of the win, but provided five and one-third innings of outstanding pitching, recording eight strikeouts, allowing two runs, and only two hits. The winning pitcher of the night was Jack Owens, who came on in the sixth, tossed one inning, allowed one hit, 2 runs, both unearned, and had one strikeout.

 

The big inning in this game happened to be the last. The Bravehearts were down to their final three outs but loaded up the bases. John Friday came up to the plate with the bases full and struck a ball between the first and second basemen to bring home two runs to tie the game at 6. Then came the hero Kevin Doody, who was 2-2 with a walk and blooped a ball into left center field to bring home Joe Caico with the game-winning run.

 

When asked about the at bat, Kevin Doody gave praise to Brett Coffel who gave him some advice before the at bat.

 

“Coffel told me that [the pitcher’s] fastball wasn't really dipping, then I got a fastball up,” said Doody — a University of Maine student. “He then shook off the catcher 3 times, so I assumed he was going to throw me something offspeed. Then he hung one and I was able to spit it into left- center.”

 

This win allowed the Bravehearts to rise above .500 with a 9-8 record.

 

The Bravehearts are back home tomorrow night where they take on the Nashua Silver Knights, with a first pitch at 7:05 pm. They follow the home game with a two day road trip into Bristol to play the Blues on Saturday June 24 and then to play the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs on Sunday June 25.