Not a bad Senior Legion debut for Jacob Bryant.
The Frontier Regional School product smacked three ground-rule doubles and knocked in five runs Wednesday night. His offensive output helped Greenfield Post 81 to a 9-3 victory over Wilbraham Blue in an American Legion Baseball Senior Division game played at Spec Pond’s Burnham Field in Wilbraham.
Bryant, who missed Post 81’s first game last week due to Frontier preparing for the WMass Division III championship game, made a splash in his senior debut. All three of his two-baggers came just shy of clearing the fence for for home runs, according to Post 81 manager Kyle Phelps.
“We threw him right in there in the cleanup spot,” said Phelps of Bryant. “He came through with some big hits. That’s what we expect of him. He’s the youngest kid on the team but he’s definitely ready to play at this level.”
Bryant helped Post 81 (2-0) break open a 2-1 game in the top of the fourth inning. Kalen Evans made it 3-1 with an RBI single, and after an Owen MacPhee walk, Bryant drove in the pair with a double to make it a 5-1 advantage.
Bryant added a two-run double in the sixth inning to put things out of reach.
Luke Viens doubled and drove in a run for Greenfield, which also received hits from Max Charest, Eliot Mousseau and Garrett DeForest. Tionne Brown stole four bases, as Post 81 totaled nine swipes in the win.
“We put pressure on them with our baserunning,” Phelps explained. “We have a lot of speed and we were able to get guys on base and put pressure on their pitcher.”
Owen Phelps picked up the victory in relief, as he tossed two innings with three strikeouts. Adam Hallenbeck started and struck out two in three innings, while Joel Peabody closed out the final two frames with a pair of strikeouts.
Post 81 managed to keep all three pitchers under the league’s pitch count, meaning they’ll all be available for Saturday’s doubleheader. The team has a unique doubleheader on the road, where it will play at Ludlow Post 52 at 3 p.m. before then heading to play Monson Post 241 for a 7 p.m. game in Palmer.
“That’s going to be the plan this year, to keep everybody fresh because we have so many games in such a short span,” Phelps said.
Junior Legion
Corbin Blight scattered three hits in five innings and the Frontier product struck out seven to pitch Greenfield Post 81 to an 11-1 run-shortened victory over Wilbraham Post 286 in an American Legion Baseball Junior Division game Wednesday night at Vets Field.
Blight added three runs scored at the plate for Greenfield, which improved to 2-2 overall on the season. Post 81 is right back at it tonight when it hosts Longmeadow at 7 p.m.
Brody Baird helped pace the Post 81 offensive attack with three hits and three RBIs, and teammate Jack O’Neill was 2-for-3 with three RBIs of his own.