Walpole High Baseball Team's Season Ends With Loss to B-R in Semifinals

In a battle of the bats, it was Bridgewater-Raynham who had a little bit more power, belting their way to a 13-9 win over the Walpole Rebels in the Division 1 South semifinals at Brockton's Campanelli Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

The Rebels end their season with a 19-4 overall record, while Bridgewater-Raynham (18-5) is moving on to play Boston College High or Dartmouth in the Division 1 South finals.

Bridgewater-Raynham scored four times in the top of the seventh to break open a close game.

In the first inning, the Walpole jumped out an early 6-0 lead, taking advantage of walks and big two-run bases-loaded double by first baseman Tom Farrow, who scored the sixth-run when he came home on a single. B-R removed starter Jake Connolly from the game, going with reliever Josh Mason, and their bullpen held the Rebels to three runs the best of the way.

The relievers' performance gave the Trojans enough time to get back in the game with their offense.

“Some teams score early and they think it’s going to be all over and that was something we were trying to hopefully prevent. To Bridgewater’s credit they came back,” said Walpole coach Bill Tompkins.

In the bottom half of the second inning, the Trojans put four runs on the board. B-R's Tyler Glavin came up with a big bases-loaded hit off of Walpole starter Mike Gaughan to cut the lead, 6-2, to highlight the inning.

Tyler Carey dropped in a hit into right field for B-R in the top of the fifth inning to bring home two runs to tie the score at six.

Gaughan was replaced by reliever Brendan Donovan and the Trojans elected to go with pinch-hitter Ryan Scripter, who delivered a hit for a 7-6 lead.

B-R's Mike Bruemmel then drove in a run with a hit and Brian McSherry followed with a bases-loaded walk for a 9-6 lead.

In the bottom half of the inning, Bruemmel came on in relief and Walpole's Matt Bender ripped a hit up the middle, scoring two runs to get the lead to 9-8.

B-R's Dave Mller ended up putting the game into the win column for the Trojans with a two-run hit in the seventh inning, capping off the four-run inning.