St. Mary’s survives to reach Division 3 state final

BROCKTON – With the score tied, the bases loaded, and no one out in the bottom of the seventh inning of the Division 3 state semifinal game against East Bridgewater, St. Mary?s Brady McLaughlin battled, fouling off anything close in a nine-pitch at-bat. But in the end, McLaughlin came out on top, drew a walk, and drove in the winning run as the Spartans topped East Bridgewater, 3-2, to advance to the state finals.
?He had an outstanding at-bat,” Spartans coach Derek Dana said of McLaughlin. “He was dialed in and kept fighting and battled and battled, and in the end, it was a walk, but he won the battle.”
St. Mary?s will take on Mt. Greylock (21-3), the top seed in the western division, for the state title on Saturday at Holy Cross in Worcester.
East Bridgewater (19-3) got to St. Mary?s (19-6) starter Clay Yianacopolus early, drawing three walks and smacking a single for a 1-0 lead. Yianacopolus limited the damage and induced a ground out to escape the jam.
The Spartans got something going in the fourth, as Ryan Borders led off with a single and Matt Costanza reached on an error. McLaughlin, who ended the day 2-for-3, singled. With one out, Brendan O?Neill grounded to the shortstop, and a run scored. The Vikings had a chance to turn two, but O?Neill beat the throw as another run scored.
?I think that?s a little bit of putting the ball on the ground. We talked about line drives and ground balls because fly balls don?t do much,” Dana said of his team taking advantage of some East Bridgewater miscues. “We?ll take it. You got to keep putting pressure on the teams and I think we did a good job of that.”
Yianacopolus cruised after the first inning, allowing just three over the next five innings.
?He didn?t have his best stuff early but that might have been a little bit of jitters there,” said Dana. “Sure enough, he started getting the ball down, pounding the zone, got command of his fastball and trusted his changeup and (catcher Brent) Lozzi did a good job of corralling it in and making plays behind him. He?s not a strikeout pitcher. He?s a kid who gets the ball in play and gets strikeouts when we need them. So he did a great job.”
But things started to fall apart in the seventh. The Vikings? leadoff batter reached on a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice and to third on a wild pitch. East Bridgewater?s Connor Gavin singled in the tying run. Costanza came in to pitch in relief, and a double play got the Spartans out of the inning.
?That little blip in the seventh, it took five years off my life. But…that?s something we do every day so we?ve got to trust it and we got the ground ball, turned the double play and got out of the inning,” said Dana. “We?ve been in these situations and we talk about how the game is out on the field and that?s the only thing that you can control. And they did a nice job of keeping things together here today. We were able to get it done.”
Three consecutive singles in the seventh from Donny Weisse, Borders and Costanza set the stage for McLaughlin?s epic at-bat that sent the Spartans to their first state finals since 1988.
?It?s a great feeling because it?s another team win,” said Dana. “Different guys stepped up. Weisse started off (the seventh) inning. Ryan Borders started off another inning. They didn?t let it get away from them. We?re in a good spot. We?ve got one more.”Katie Morrison may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KatieMo61.