PLYMOUTH – Thanks to some timely hitting and strong work on the mound, Plymouth North is back in the state baseball semifinals for the first time since 2012.
Senior captain DC Brown went the distance and senior captain Killian Murphy collected two RBI singles as the No. 2 Eagles ousted No. 10 Norwood 3-0 at home Friday night in the Div. 2 quarterfinals.
“We just found a way to win,” said Plymouth North coach Dwayne Follette. “(Norwood) is a well-coached team. They’re going to battle you and this is the exact game I expected – low scoring.”
Brown started off strong with nine straight set down before a leadoff single for Norwood’s (14-9) Sam Larkee in the fourth was followed one out later by a single to right for Gerry Frey to put runners at the corners with one down. Brown buckled down and was able to strike out Jacob Sheehan and Angel Oliveirra to retire the side.
“(Brown) is a warrior,” Follette said about his ace. “When he’s on the mound, we don’t panic. We just play and we don’t have to do too much. He just gives us a comfort level.”
Brown ran into trouble again in the sixth as Larkee led off with a single and three batters later he hit Sheehan to put a couple runners on. One pitch later, Oliveirra grounded into a fielder’s choice to short to once again get out of a jam.
“I love these guys,” Brown said about the team’s performance behind him. “There’s no better team out there. I’ve been playing with these guys since we were eight or nine. We’re a really close-knit team and when you go out there in a game like this, you just trust them, and trust the people behind you. Coming out of the gate, it felt like we were ready to roll and I had no concerns about what we were going to do.”
The senior captain finished with nine strikeouts and needed fewer than 80 pitches to throw the three-hitter.
Offensively, Plymouth North (20-3) did not get on the board until the bottom of the third as Matt Nardone knocked in Michael Hannon from third with an RBI single to center to put the Eagles up 1-0 after three.
The Eagles tacked on another run in the fourth as Murphy dropped in a single to score Brennan Keefe from second to push the lead to 2-0.
Murphy added an RBI single to center in the sixth to score Noah MacKenzie from second with two down. MacKenzie ran for Brown after his base hit to right with one down in the frame.
Next up, Plymouth North will play the winner of Sunday’s Hopkinton/Westfield matchup in the Div. 2 semifinals early next week.
“It feels good,” Follette said about making it to the state semifinals. “Honestly, it’s been a goal of this team. It’s a mature team. It’s a talented team and we haven’t done anything yet.”
