Eagles’ Vasil just Super vs. Wamps
BC High ace Mike Vasil left little doubt as to the identity of the best player on the field.
Behind Vasil’s complete game four-hitter, the Eagles defeated two-time defending champion Braintree, 3-2, in the first round of the doubleelimination Super Eight tournament yesterday afternoon on their home turf of Monan Park.
Vasil threw 107 pitches, 81 for strikes. He faced 30 hitters and fired in 22 first-pitch strikes.
Eagles coach Norm Walsh said Vasil was as good as he has been all year.
“Mike just knows how to seal the deal,” Walsh said. “He was throwing as hard at the end of the game as he was at the beginning. I told him before the ninth, ‘Don’t get over-amped; just go out there and throw,’ and he did a great job.”
Using a fastball that hovered in the low 90s, along with his curveball, Vasil retired the first 15 batters he faced.
Trailing 3-0 in the top of the seventh, the No. 5 Wamps (14-7) finally were able to get to Vasil.
Alex Kennedy led off with a single to left and, two batters later, Kevin O’Brien ripped a single to right to put runners on the corners with one out.
Vasil was able to get a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but Brennan Quigley lined a single down the right-field line just beyond the dive of the first baseman.
The single scored Kennedy. O’Brien came in right behind him when the cutoff throw went into the BC High dugout, trimming the No. 4 Eagles’ lead to 3-2. Vasil, however, remained poised and retired the final seven batters he faced on 22 pitches to seal the win.
“Braintree is a terrific team and you know they’re never going to quit,” Vasil said. “I knew getting them out in order in the eighth was huge and then I just went out there in the ninth and kept the ball low.”
BC High (13-8) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Timmy Keohane singled, stole second and third base, and came home on a balk.
Bobby Demeo lined an RBI single to score Dave Driscoll in the fourth. And a Sean O’Connell sacrifice fly plated Luke Murphy in the sixth to complete the Eagles’ scoring.