Old Colony Archives
Blue Devils send Cougars packing
Old Colony baseball team loses postseason game
By Buddy Thomas, Standard-Times senior sports editor
June 4, 2004
ROCHESTER -- Visiting Fairhaven passed its first test of the postseason thanks to a home field disadvantage that helped produce a 4-2 victory over Old Colony here yesterday.
Brent Almeida pitched a complete-game eight-hitter but had to rely on a last-inning ground-rule to hold off the 12th-seeded Cougars in the Division 3 baseball preliminary round game.
With the win, 21st-ranked Fairhaven (6-15) heads to Nantucket today for a first round game against the Islanders.
Cruising into the seventh inning with a seemingly commanding 4-0 lead, Almeida lost his shutout when Dave Bernat's one-out single scored Brian Desmarias and came within a bounce of watching his lead vanish altogether.
After Alex Amaral's single put runners on first and third, Stefan Beaulieu's sacrifice fly scored Bernat to make it 4-2, setting the stage for Nate Deree. The sweet-swinging lefty fell behind on the count, 1 and 2, before jumping on an Almeida fastball and lining it into the right-centerfield gap.
Amaral, who was running on the play, scored easily and with Deree streaking around the bases, it appeared as though the Cougars were about to tie the score. But just as Deree rounded second base, Fairhaven centerfielder Rob Forcier began waving his arms frantically.
Deree eventually trotted home with what appeared to be the tying run but the play was ultimately blown dead by the base umpire who ruled the ball had rolled under the fence for a ground-rule double. As a result, two runs were taken off the board as Amaral and Deree were ordered back to third and second base, respectively.
Almeida then bowed his back, striking out Kyle Nelson to end the game.
"We were lucky," said Fairhaven coach Tim Plante. "One little bounce that allows the ball to hit the fence and the game is probably tied. Lucky for us the ball didn't bounce and we were able to come away with a win."
Corey Martins' fourth-inning RBI single snapped a scoreless tie and when Alex Zeininger's two-run single helped key a three-run fifth, it appeared as though the Blue Devils were headed for an easy win.
Almeida cruised through the first three innings, limiting Old Colony to a pair of singles. The sophomore righthander escaped a bases-load two-out jam in the fourth and stranded runners on second and third an inning later to take a five-hit shutout into the sixth. And when the hard-throwing righthander retired the side in order, a shutout victory was just three outs away.
Three tough outs.
"I thought Brent pitched very well for six innings and I don't think he ran out of gas in the seventh," said Plante. "I just think they (Old Colony) were locking on to him. Those No. 3 (Beaulieu) and 4 (Deree) guys are pretty good hitters. They combined for almost half (4) of the team's (9) hits."
Deree went the distance for Old Colony and was the tough-luck loser. The sophomore left-hander went the distance, allowing eight hits and only one earned run. He struck out two and walked a pair. Almeida struck out eight and walked two.
Zeininger and Shane Chadwick led the Fairhaven offense with a pair of hits. Almeida, Forcier, Martins and Tyler Vieira each had one. Beaulieu, Deree and Desmarias each had a pair of hits for Old Colony with Bernat, Amaral and Matt Hudon contributing one.