BANGOR – Among the 117 pitches he threw against the St. Joseph’s College Monks on Wednesday afternoon, Rob Worcester had one that he wanted back.
That offering – a fastball to start off the fifth inning – quickly turned into Steve Osborne’s 19th home run of the season when the Millinocket slugger smacked it over the left field fence.
After the game, though, Worcester could chuckle about the mistake: He and the Husson Braves held the Monks at bay for the remainder of the game and posted a 5-2 win in the second game of a doubleheader.
St. Joseph’s won the first game 10-0 in a contest shortened to six innings by the 10-run mercy rule.
The split gave Husson a regular-season split (2-2) against the Monks, who left Winkin Complex with a still-gaudy 32-4 record. St. Joseph’s is 10-2 in games played against the teams vying for conference postseason berths.
The Braves improved to 15-9, 6-4.
The two teams are likely to advance to the postseason tournament in a league that includes five traditional Maine Athletic Conference squads, along with Vermont’s Castleton State and Lyndon State.
The hard-throwing Worcester, who transferred to Husson from Maine before his senior year, said he should have known better than to throw the pitch.
“My brother [Mike], the catcher, called a slider and I wish I had thrown it now,” he said. “I shook him off. I just tried to groove one to get ahead. That’s what happens, I guess.”
It’s happened to a lot of others this year, as Osborne has chewed up opposing pitching. He entered the week batting .500 with 64 RBIs.
“Any [team] hitting record you can think of, either single-season or career, he’s got it,” coach Will Sanborn said.
Worcester exacted his revenge in the top of the seventh, striking out Osborne to lead off the inning.
Husson scored all of its runs in the second game in a wild third-inning flurry.
The Braves benefited from three St. Joseph’s errors, but strung together six hits while giving Worcester a 5-0 lead.
Tony Laprino, Jared Foster, and Don Sawyer rapped RBI singles in the inning.
After that, the Braves relied on Worcester to hold off the Monks.
He did, stranding 10 baserunners in the game while striking out five and walking four.
“[The big inning] was just a relief,” Worcester said. “[Then] you can go out and stuff the ball in the zone. And if they go out and hit a long ball – like he did – you don’t have to let it bother you.”
In the first game, the Monks scored three runs in the first (including one on a towering Osborne triple to right), four more in the second, and one in the third to take command.
Osborne scored three runs in the game and second baseman Lucas Hannigan stroked three singles and drove in four runs.
Meanwhile, starter Charlie Buker was cruising. He fed the Braves a steady diet of off-speed pitches and mixed in a sneaky-quick fastball. He struck out one and walked three in a four-hitter.
Husson coach John Kolasinski said the production from Osborne (he also reached base twice on errors in the game) was typical of the kind of year he – and the Monks – are having.
“He’s their leader,” Kolasinski said. “When he rolls, they roll.”
Husson captain Sawyer was disappointed in the split, despite St. Joseph’s impressive record.
“[It seemed like] we thought we were down and weren’t going to come back,” Sawyer said.
Kolasinski, though, was satisfied.
“I think we got the performance we needed from Robbie. Especially after [the first game], when they played just out of this world.”
Monks 10, Braves 0
(First Game)
St. Joseph’s Husson
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
VanDerburgh, rf 3 1 1 1 Soucie, cf 3 0
Wellington, lf 3 1 0 0 Laprino, rf 2 0
Osborne, cf 4 3 1 1 Sawyer, 2b 3 0 0
LaCasse, 1b 2 2 0 0 Montgomery, p-dh 3 0
Hannigan, 2b 3 0 3 4 Simmons, 1b 3 0 0
Newell, dh 4 0 1 0 McGlinn, c 3 0 0
Holland, c 4 0 2 2 a-Creek 0 0 0 0
b-Mirabello 0 1 0 0 Foster, lf 1 0 0
Lambert, 3b 3 1 1 1 Ferguson, ss 2 0 0
Becvar, ss 4 1 1 1 Folsom, 3b 1 0 0
Totals 30 10 10 10 Totals 21 0 4 0
a-ran for McGlinn in second
b-ran for Holland in third
St. Joseph’s 341 002 ?10
Husson 000 000 ? 0
E?Hannigan; Sawyer, Simmons, Ferguson, Folsom 2; LOB?St. Joseph’s 8, Husson 6; 2B?Hannigan; 3B?Osborne; DP?Wellington-Hannigan; Becvar-LaCasse; SF?VanDerburgh, Lambert; SB?VanDerburgh, LaCasse, Lambert, Mirabello, Becvar
St. Joseph’s IP H R ER BB SO
Buker (W, 5-0) 6 4 0 0 3 1
Husson IP H R ER BB SO
Montgomery (L, 6-2) 2? 6 8 4 1 4
Reynolds 3? 4 2 1 4 0
WP?Montgomery 2, Reynolds 2; T?1:45;
Braves 5, Monks 2
(Second Game)
St. Joseph’s (32-4) Husson (15-9)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
VanDerburgh, rf 2 0 1 0 Laprino, rf 4 1
a-Newell 1 0 0 0 Foster, lf 3 1 1
d-Prunier 1 0 0 0 Sawyer, 2b 4 0 1
Wellington, rf 0 0 0 0 Simmons, 1b 3 0
Mirabello, lf 4 0 0 0 b-Reynolds 0 0
Osborne, cf 4 1 1 1 Montgomery, dh 3 1 0
LaCasse, 1b 2 0 0 0 M. Worcester, c 3 0 0
Hannigan, 2b 4 0 0 0 Ferguson, ss 3 0 0
e-Johnson 0 0 0 0 Folsom, 3b 2 1 0
Dumais, dh 3 0 2 0 Soucie, cf 3 1 0
Lambert, 3b 4 1 0 0
Becvar, ss 1 0 1 0
Goulet, c 2 0 0 0
c-Holland 1 0 0 0
Totals 29 2 5 1 Totals 28 5 9 3
a-grounded out for VanDerburgh in fourth
b-ran for Simmons in fifth
c-grounded out for Goulet in sixth
d-struck out for VanDerburgh in sixth
e-ran for Hannigan in seventh
St. Joseph’s 000 110 0 ? 2
Husson 005 000 x ? 5
E?Gates, Osborne, Becvar 2; Folsom, R. Worcester, Ferguson; LOB?St. Joseph’s 10, Husson 7; 2B?Folsom; HR?Osborne (19);
St. Joseph’s IP H R ER BB SO
Gates (L, 4-1) 2? 7 5 3 0 1
Dalton 3? 2 0 0 0 1
Husson IP H R ER BB SO
Worcester (W, 3-2) 7 5 2 1 4 5
HBP?LaCasse by R. Worcester; Folsom, Foster by Dalton; WP?Gates; R. Worcester; PB?M. Worcester 2; T?2:35; ATT?75 (est.)
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