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Health & Fitness

B-R Trojans Put Hammer on Barnstable in Key OCL Tilt

The Red Raiders came out firing on all cylinders.

It just simply was not enough against the hard-hitting Bridgewater-Raynham hosts as the Trojans came back early to stage a 7-3 victory and maintain their top-ranked status.

Senior centerfielder Hayden Murphy - bound for Princeton on a football scholarship - led the game off with a pop fly to no-man's land along the foul line in left and ended with a leadoff double. Senior shortstop Derek Estes, headed to fill that role next fall at the Community College of Rhode Island, followed with a grounder to short which was misplayed to put men on first and third. Estes then stole second base to put two ducks on the pond with no outs. The next two Barnstable hitters struck out versus B-R's Jack Connolly - a hard-throwing righty headed for Notre Dame.

Barnstable's Chris Fowler - a senior first baseman likely headed to play baseball at Curry College next fall - then laced an 0-1 Connolly fastball to right to plate two runs and give the Red Raiders a quick, 2-0 lead.

It would prove a joy short-lived for the Red & White.

Barnstable sophomore righty Griffin Burke (1-1) stranded a pair of B-R runners in the first, in part thanks to a beautiful catch in left field by senior Micah Gregory, and at the end of the inning things looked promising for the visitors.

But Connolly stranded a pair of Red Raider baserunners in the top of the 2nd inning, and then sat back and watched his teammates provide some offensive fireworks in the bottom of the frame, albeit all with two outs.

Burke walked the first hitter he saw to start the second inning, then settled nicely to whiff the next two men he faced. But with a man on second, a vicious line drive to left went sailing to the wall to make it a 2-1 game. The next batter walked to put a pair on and then a double, followed by an infield error, followed by a Joe Freiday home run blast erased Barnstable's previous momentum. Burke ended whiffing the last batter he faced to strike out the side, but the damage had been done.

Senior righty Riley Ashe came on in the 3rd inning and allowed one unearned run to make it 7-2 and from that point forward the score remained the same until the top of the 7th with two outs. Barnstable catcher Cody Pasic, a junior with looks already from Bryant and Franklin Pierce and who caught a spectacular game throughout the afternoon, reached first on an error with one out, then stole second base. The next batter struck out and then senior Conor Walsh - headed to play ball at Clark University next fall - laced a 2-1 Connolly fastball to drive in Pasic to make it 7-3. 

But that was all Barnstable had left in the tank.

Connolly went the full 7 innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits. He struck out six, walked one and hit one batter.

Burke allowed six runs (four earned) on three hits, struck out four and walked three in two innings of work.

Ashe went four innings of relief and allowed one unearned run on one hit, walked one and struck out six.

Barnstable heads into Spring Break with a 5-4 record and will face Pope John Paul II in Hyannis at McKeon Park at 7:00 pm on Friday, May 2.

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