BROOKLINE, Mass. – The North Attleboro baseball team entered playoff a few weeks ago. The Rocketeers needed to win three of their final four games and the final two of the season (against two of their biggest rivals no less) just to qualify for the postseason.
The team has already embraced the “win or go home” mentality and Thursday afternoon, they showed once again that they are just not ready for the season to end.
North Attleboro (11-10), the no. 17 seed, traveled to Parsons Field (home of Northeastern University) and knocked off the no. 16 seed Brookline Warriors, 7-3. Senior starter Corey Walker went 7-2/3 innings to pick up the victory and Matt Hardy reached base four times and drove in a pair of runs.
Head coach Paul Tobin admitted that the way North ended the season was good preparation for the way that the Rocketeers need to approach the tournament.
“We’ve been playing must-win baseball for about a month now, so these guys have just been responding and responding” he noted. “It’s really gratifying as a coach to see them concentrate and do the fundamental things we need to get the win.”
Pitching with the lead, Walker continued to pound the strike zone and use his change-up and curveball to get the Warriors to chase. He scattered nine hits (five of them in his final 1-1/3 innings of work) and allowed only three runs. It was exactly the type of start that Tobin was looking for from the lefty.
“He had a tremendous start,’ said Tobin. “He’s a senior and a leader on our team. Coming into the season, this is the type of leadership that we thought he was going to give us and you saw why today.”
North tacked onto its lead in the top of the fifth. Hardy led off with a walk and another error by the Brookline pitcher on a sacrifice bunt, put runners on second and third with no outs. Hardy tried to take home on a passed ball but was tagged out on a close play.
However, the Rocketeers did not lose the momentum.
Centerfielder Jake Dellaire tripled to deep center to plate Chris Bredberg and then designated hitter Ryan Gagne brought him in with a line drive sacrifice fly to center. It turned out to be a very important run.
Vinciguerra moved in from second base to face Brookline pinch hitter Tyler Patterson. Patterson hit a solid liner that seemed destined for left until shortstop Mike Manning leaped to make a great catch and end the threat.
It was the type of play that North has been making in its end-of-the-season run. In the bottom of the seventh, Jordy McKay crushed a liner but it was right at Lang. The same inning ended on a low liner that Vinciguerra (still playing second at the time) snared and turned into an inning-ending double play.
North put the game away in the top of the ninth with a pair of insurance runs. With two outs, Ryan Kennedy singled home a run to make it 6-3 and then Cote followed with an RBI single of his own. Vinciguerra pitched a quick bottom of the ninth for the save.
Tobin was proud of his team’s desire to win and the ability to make the little plays that can decide a tournament baseball game.
“We figured, hey we’re playing good baseball, so why not end someone else’s season,” he remarked. “We’re going to be a tough out and I think, even though we’re playing the no. 1 seed in the tournament tomorrow, I think we’re going to be a tough out tomorrow too.”
However, as Hardy explains, there was more to the Rocketeers effort than simply the desire to continue on in the tournament. They were also playing for an injured teammate, whose jersey was hanging in the dugout throughout the game.
“We came in and said that we want to win it for Dave Manning, who broke his collarbone in the Attleboro game and he’s in surgery right now. It inspired us a lot because he was our ace coming into the year and it’s tough losing someone like that,” said Hardy.
North Attleboro will have a quick turnaround, as it travels to top seed Walpole on Friday afternoon. At this point, it would be hard to count the Rocketeers out.