Brookline baseball ends postseason with loss to Marshfield

When this season began, it was clear that the Brookline High Warriors could pitch and field ? run production was the question mark and the team?s potential Achilles? heel.

There were games when the offense hummed and the Warriors were able to put runs on the board, with the team scoring six runs against Wellesley, nine runs in the Cooperstown game against Needham, and exploding for 11 runs on a rainy afternoon in Dedham.

But more often than not, Brookline struggled to score, and the team?s offensive doldrums returned in the first round of the Eastern Massachusetts baseball tournament and the result was the grind-it-out Warriors suffering a season-ending 3-0 loss to Marshfield on Friday, June 1.

?We had a great group of 13 seniors who gave it their all right to the end,? BHS coach Joe Campagna said. ?These guys won 32 varsity games during the past three years, so they had a nice run ? and now we have to retool and rebuild.?

A lively contingent of Warriors fans traveled to Marshfield for the opening-round game, which marked Brookline?s return to post-season play after a one year absence. Marshfield was the #3 seed in the South zone and sent its ace, senior Kevin Kwedor, to the mound, and the lanky lefty mixed speed with guile to keep Brookline?s offense at bay.

Facing the Warriors? three-year starter, Eric Dumas, Marshfield was able to push across a run in the bottom of the first, aided by an umpiring call that elicited groans from the Brookline faithful when Dumas appeared to have a Marshfield runner picked off first.

?I thought we had the runner picked off, but the ump must have been surprised by Eric?s quick move,? Campagna noted.

When Marshfield tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, the valley Brookline found itself in suddenly seemed very deep ? and though the team battled until the end, on this day, it was not to be.

The loss concluded the Brookline High careers of the team?s talented and tenacious seniors:? Adam Blumberg, Aidan Connolly, Seb Dobrow, Eric Dumas, Jonny Gold, Sammy Greenfield, Avery Grill, Henry Lucey, Hikari Mamata, Joe Meyers, Campbell Narron, Miles Rubin and Mariano Suriel.

?This was a team that played hard and showed grit, winning six of their final seven games and four straight at the end to force their way into the playoffs,? Campagna said. ?There weren?t many easy wins, but this team battled every step of the way.?

Campagna noted that the senior contingent included two of the finest pitchers to don the Brookline uniform, Rutgers-bound Narron, who concluded his Warriors career with 10 wins, and Dumas, who now moves on to Wheaton College after recording 178 strikeouts as a Warrior.

?Eric and Campbell both had ERA?s under 2.00, and combined to pitch more than 290 innings during their careers,? Campagna said. ?They were remarkable players on team that represented Brookline well on and off the field. This group left a legacy that next year?s players and the players who come after should be proud to build upon.?

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