'We needed a gut-check game': Braintree baseball's white-hot start now includes a walk-off

BRAINTREE -- The original plan, Braintree High baseball coach Bill O'Connell said, was to "lurk in the weeds" for the first half of the season, letting his young roster find its stride without drawing too much attention to itself while hopefully getting ready to sneak up on people come playoff time.

Well, scratch that.

The new plan is to be highly visible all the time while rampaging through the state.

So far, that's working out great for the Wamps.

Braintree lost its season opener to Walpole and hasn't been beaten since, winning 11 in a row to climb to No. 2 in the latest MIAA Division 1 power rankings .

The latest conquest was one of the Wamps' best -- Wednesday's riveting, 3-2 walk-off victory over Framingham, courtesy of Cal Youhas' two-out, bases-loaded single down the right-field line in the seventh inning that brought home Jake Joyce.

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"I had a 2-2 count," said Youhas, a senior DH who entered the game hitting .357. "The pitcher had the fastball grip in his hand, showing it right to me. He brought his hand up, and I saw an adjustment on the ball, so I knew an offspeed was coming. I sat back and drove it.

"It felt good coming back from behind; we haven't really done that all year."

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Braintree trailed 2-0 in the third inning against the Flyers (6-6) and had to escape a major jam in the top of the seventh with the score tied at 2-2 before Youhas' heroics. The drama was a nice change of pace, considering that the Wamps' previous six wins had come by scores of 8-0, 4-0, 11-5, 16-0, 9-0 and 6-0.

"We needed one of these games," O'Connell said. "We needed a gut-check game to deal with some adversity."

The Wamps' blazing start has led to some eye-popping stats.

Braintree's team batting average coming in was a robust .351, headline by senior leadoff hitter Hayden Regan (.541, 9 RBIs, 18 runs), senior cleanup hitter Sean O'Rourke (.441, 10 RBIs, 9 runs) and sophomore outfielder Max King (.367). Regan (RBI double) and junior first baseman Sean Canavan (sacrifice fly) erased the 2-0 deficit in the third inning after No. 9 hitter Joe Bosse reached on a leadoff error. Pinch-runner Jack Titley scored the first run, jarring the ball loose from Framingham catcher Lucas Messer on a play at the plate.

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Meanwhile, Braintree's pitching has been superb with a team ERA of 1.20 and six shutouts. The Wamps' young rotation features junior Connor Grieve (2-1, 2.33 ERA), sophomore Max DeRoche (2-0, 0.62) and freshman Luke Joyce (4-0, 0.89) with King (2-0, no runs allowed in 8 innings) and Titley (2 saves) as the relievers.

"The pitching's been lights out," O'Connell said.

DeRoche had a bit of a rough start in this one, allowing two runs on five hits (plus some loud outs) over the first 3 innings, but he settled down nicely and stuck around for 6 innings, throwing fastballs, changeups and curveballs. King took over in the seventh and wriggled out of a jam (runner on third, one out) with a strikeout (of dangerous No. 3 hitter Jace Coleman) and a groundout -- an escape that O'Connell said showcased "terrific poise."

"I have to just stay calm and do what I do," King said. "I put a lot of work in in the offseason. I like to see it translate to the games now."

Asked if his young staff was ahead of schedule, O'Connell said, "Oh, without a doubt. They had a great offseason. We have a nice pitching program with the guys. They worked out as a staff with an outside coach. And (assistant) coach (Cam) Fox does a terrific job with our guys in-season. He does a great job calling a game; he knows their strengths and weaknesses. It's been a really good match."

O'Connell said one of the things he likes most about this team is how it has embraced the high standards of the program. Braintree won back-to-back Super 8 titles in 2015 and 2016 and was a Div. 1 quarterfinalist in 2022 before slumping to an 11-11 finish last spring.

"It's a young team, but it's also a team that's very cognizant of the past success of the program," O'Connell said. "They're very interested in bringing back the legacy (of Braintree baseball). Last year we had a tough year, we went .500. But I feel like this year's team really takes a lot of pride in trying to get the program back to where it was."

"There's definitely an expectation" of success around the program, Youhas agreed. "I grew up in Braintree watching them win two Super 8 championships in a row. I knew by the time I was in high school that I would be ready to win some games."

Some games, sure. How about 11 wins in the first 12?

"I'm not going to lie," Youhas said with a smile. "I was not expecting to be doing as well as we are right now. But we're rolling, so we have to keep it going."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 'We needed a gut-check game': Braintree baseball's white-hot start now includes a walk-off