Legion baseball: Greenfield Post 81 loses to Beverly Post 331, ousted from state tournament

MILFORD — A second loss in as many days ousted Greenfield Post 81 from the Massachusetts Legion Baseball State Tournament on Sunday. Greenfield lost to Beverly Post 331, 2-1, to end its season at sunny Fino Field.

Greenfield went to the seventh inning without a hit and down 2-0 against Beverly but loaded the bases in an effort to advance.

“I felt like the whole way we were just a few batters away,” Greenfield coach Alex Siano said. “We kept hanging around. I knew our team would fight through it at some point and we did. We were one out and one batter away from winning.”

The big hit didn’t come for Greenfield. Luca Siano managed a sacrifice fly in the seventh, but the runs ended there.

“I was really proud of way the kids fought,” Siano said. “We had a really good team this year.”

Greenfield finished its season at 17-2-2 along with a District 3 championship. Greenfield lost an extra-inning game in the opening round on Saturday afternoon.

“I think we did represent,” Siano said. “But that’s the way baseball is and that’s the way games are supposed to be played. That’s baseball. You don’t always win. We didn’t win, but I think we definitely got respect.”

Pitcher Jayden Cunningham brought a no-hitter into the seventh inning for Beverly. An infield single by Bodie Burke broke it up. Cunningham had some control issues, plunking five batters.

Ethan Mauthe took the brunt of two of those pitches. Cunningham had a knuckleball in his repertoire, leading to a sense of unpredictability for Greenfield hitters.

“You don’t really see a knuckleball nowadays,” Mauthe said. “He was really wild. You didn’t know what was coming. So unpredictable. It was hard to be ready.”

Mauthe played the final legion game of his baseball career.

“It was great,” Mauthe said. “It was great to be out there with all my boys one last time. We had a good ride. Obviously, it didn’t go the way we wanted in states, but it was fun to be out on the field. “

In the bottom of the seventh, Sam Connors drew a walk before Burke’s infield single. A wild pitch sent the runners to second and third. Hunter Donahue struck out before Siano’s sacrifice fly scored Connors from third. Nick Prasol got hit by a pitch before Shawn Baumann drew a walk, loading the bases. Conner Bergeron went down swinging to end the game for Greenfield.

“It was adrenaline filled,” Mauthe said. “I know all of us were getting really hyped in the dugout. All the emotions were there. It was really cool to see.”

Mark Walsh recorded the final out for Beverly.

Evan Tsipenyuk threw seven innings for Greenfield, giving up one earned run. Tsipenyuk only allowed six hits and pitched to contact. He did not record a strikeout in his outing.

In the first inning, Shea Christel reached on an error before stealing second base. Cunningham then reached on an infield single. Matt Stuart eventually registered an RBI on a groundout to give Beverly the 1-0 lead.

Greenfield had runners on base in the first inning after Mauthe and Sam Connors got plunked with two outs. With runners at first and second, Cunningham got Burke to pop out to end the inning.

Mark Bettencourt scored Sandierick Arendell-Suazo on a sacrifice fly to give Beverly a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth. In the bottom half of the inning, Bettencourt took away a hit from Connors on a close play at first base. After stabbing a grounder, Bettencourt dove to the bag and tagged the base with his glove to record the out.

Cunningham finished with six strikeouts and two walks for Beverly.

Hyde Park Post 78 (5), Greenfield 4 (eight innings)— Greenfield scored three runs in the seventh to tie the game but ended up losing on a walk off in extra-innings on Saturday afternoon at Fino Field.

Bergeron and Mauthe both had two hits for Greenfield. Sam Connors had two hits with two RBI. Arthur Fitzpatrick struck out three hitters in five innings. Nick Prasol added an RBI.