Miscues, Southpaw Ends Belmont Baseball Playoff Run

Belmont High School Baseball Head Coach Jim Brown was dejected as he packed his equipment last night.

"We couldn't commit errors especially against a good team and a pitcher like that," said Brown.

Four errors, mental mistakes and a ten-win pitcher on his game resulted in a 6-0 defeat to Danvers High School in the MIAA Division 2 North Semifinals played at Lynn's Alumni Field Thursday, June 6.

"It was just a bad time to play our worse game in a while," said Brown.

The Falcons' junior pitching phenom Brandon Hyde threw a complete game shut out using a deadly-accurate low sweeping pitch that his head coach, Roger Day, said "never broke 70 m.p.h. once in the game." 

But what the 10-0 pitcher lacked in speed he made up in hitting his mark with a combination of change-ups and curves.

"He kept a good Belmont team off balance all night and that's when he is at his best," said Day of Hyde who struck out five including two in the final inning.

Combine errors both in the field and on the base paths and the Maruaders could not generate the momentum to battle back.

Belmont started the game on the right foot as lead off hitter Brian Coutts slapped a single into right field and went to second on Danny Donahue's sacrifice. After an intentional walk to Shea, Hyde struck out Mike Richardson looking. Belmont nearly scored when Vijay Pathak ripped a Hyde offering towards the hole between first and second only to see Danver's first-baseman junior Rafael Tylus make an outstanding diving catch of the ball.

And while Shea struck out the side in the bottom of the first, Danvers scored on two walks and two subsequent pass balls. 

Belmont squandered runners in three consecutive innings; ended the third and fifth hitting into double plays while Shea was picked off first base by Hyde after singling in the fourth.

Danvers broke open the game in the third with three runs on three singles, a double and a walk. And Belmont handed Danvers two in the fifth – one on a suicide squeeze – beginning with an error, a wild pitch and not allowing a sacrifice bunt to go foul. 

Belmont did load the bases in the six with three consecutive two-out singles by Shea, Richardson and Pathak before Hyde got Jake Cole on a foul tip into the glove of senior catcher Joe Olszak. 

Brown said this season, in which Belmont had multiple wins in the tournament, will help the team next year which is losing 10 seniors.

"This will give our returning players something to look back on and build on," he said as his team was cheered off the field by family and friends.