BRAINTREE – Driving in the game-winning run with a walk-off hit in the postseason is what every young baseball player dreams of.
But doing it is a different feeling.
For Connor Grieve, it was pure and utter elation as his double in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the No. 8 Braintree Wamps to a 4-3 victory over the visiting No. 25 Springfield Central Eagles in the MIAA Division I state tournament Round of 32 on Monday.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Grieve said. “I saw the man on second, and I said, ‘This needs to be my day.’ ”
Grieve finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs. But if that day belonged to anyone, it was Luke Joyce.
The southpaw went the distance for the Wamps, throwing 107 pitches across eight innings of work, striking out six while allowing just one earned run on five hits and a walk.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in Massachusetts,” Braintree coach Bill O’Connell said. “He’s proven it. He’s done it all year. A first-team All-Star, he’s won all of our big games. He’s pitched in all of our big games, and here he is again today in the biggest spot of the year.
“And I thought he was dominant against a really good lineup.”
The sophomore had no issue finding his rhythm against an aggressive Springfield Central lineup, keeping them off balance with a steady diet of breaking pitches mixed in with the occasional fastball here and there.
Even when the Eagles roughed him up for a pair of runs that tied the game in the top of the fifth, he bounced back by retiring eight of the final nine batters he faced.
Joyce also made sure to contribute to his own cause while at the plate in the third inning when he belted a fly ball deep to right-center field that hit directly on top of the outfield fence for a home run.
“I didn’t think it was out,” Joyce said. “I had two strikes on me, so I had to shorten up. I didn’t even load. I just swung at a good pitch and thought maybe I had a double or a triple.
“They called it a dinger. I’ll take it.”
Owen Donnelly also had a productive day in the batter’s box for Braintree. He went 2-for-3 and scored two runs, including the game-winner. It was his lead-off single in the bottom of the eighth that set up Grieve’s heroics.
Braintree will host No. 24 Leominster in the D-I Round of 16 on Thursday from Veterans Stadium at 5 p.m.
