ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
St. John’s Prep’s Sean McGinnis, right, greets Mike Yarin at the plate after Yarin scored the first run of the game.
By KATIE MORRISON
BROCKTON — For the second year in a row, the St. John’s Prep baseball team has pushed the Super 8 tournament to its limit, taking Braintree to a second game.
The Prep bats exploded for 11 runs Thursday, six of those coming on home runs, to down the Wamps, 11-2.
“Great job by the kids hitting. We’ve been at this point before, we were here last year, and they got us,” said St. John’s Prep coach Dan Letarte. “For today I know it’s just one win with one to go. I’m proud of the kids for this one, but immediately my thoughts are going to Sunday. We get to play another day.”
But perhaps the bigger story was the fact that the Eagles pitching staff combined to hold the Wamps, a team that boasts one of the most dangerous lineups in the tournament, to just two runs. Braintree had put a 10-spot on the Eagles in the first game of the Super 8 tournament this year.
Brendan Powicki again got the start for the Eagles, who stayed with their pitcher-by-committee approach despite using five pitchers Wednesday night in the win against Xaverian.
Powicki again found himself in a jam in the first inning, but stranded runners on first and third thanks to a couple of nice plays from second baseman Jake Spada.
The Prep wasted no time jumping on Wamps pitching. Mike Yarin ripped a two-out single and stole second. Cleanup hitter Jacob Yish drove him home with a single.
The Eagles showed off their power in the middle innings. In the second, Sean McGinnis drew a leadoff walk, and Andrew Selima made Braintree starter Kyle Gray pay, smacking a one-out home run to right.
McGinnis was on base again in the fourth for Frank DiOrio, who came within feet of a home run Wednesday night. He left no doubt in his second at-bat Thursday, taking Gray deep into the Eagles’ bullpen in left field.
That’d do it for Gray, who yielded five runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings. The Wamps pieced together the remainder of the game using five pitchers, but none were particularly effective.
The St. John’s staff, on the other hand, kept the Wamps in check. Powicki gave up two walks and a hit in his two innings. Chris Murphy was next up, getting into a two-on, no-out jam in the third but getting a big 4-6-3 double play to escape. He settled in and retired the side in order in the fourth.
Colin Nye struggled in his inning and a third, and left with two on and one out, but Nolan Webb came in and induced a double play to escape the jam.
Webb allowed Braintree’s only two runs on a two-run home run off the bat of Erik MacDonald in the seventh inning. Zach Begin came in to close out the game in the ninth, breezing through a 1-2-3 inning.
Selima, who drove in four runs, smacked his second home run in the seventh, knocking in DiOrio, who had reached on a walk.
“When those balls go out here, they’re legitimate,” said Letarte. All three home runs easily cleared the 320-foot markers in right and left field.
“I’m proud of the approach. We’re attacking,” said Letarte.
McGinnis went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs, and Chris Francoeur doubled and singled in a 2-for-4 night. The Eagles got production from up and down the lineup.
The Prep has gotten hot at the right time. The Wamps were the hottest team in the tournament, winning 10 in a row coming into Thursday. Now the Eagles, with their five straight wins, are on a roll, earning all of those wins on the brink of elimination.
“I just feel like we’re battle-tested,” said Letarte. “So is Braintree, they play a tough schedule. But I think all the pitching we’ve faced has gotten us better.”
Letarte also said that the sheer amount of time the team has spent with each other during this tournament has helped them click as a team.
“I’ll be honest, we’re spending so much time with each other, we’re a family,” said Letarte. “It’s a god feeling right now.”
With the Super 8 final being played Sunday night (7), it gives both teams a chance to rest their pitching staffs. That means that the Eagles will have to deal with Braintree ace Scott Creedon, who held the Prep to two runs in last year’s Super 8 final, and to four runs in the first game of this year’s tournament.
“He’s owned this tournament,” said Letarte. “But we’ve seen him. Our lineup will be ready for him.”
