Bravehearts

Brockton, MA – In a critical battle between the first and third place teams in the Futures League, the Worcester Bravehearts came out on top over the Brockton Rox in a HR Derby tie breaker.

The scoring started in the third when both teams scored one run. The Bravehearts on an EJ Exposito (NYIT) RBI single, and the Rox on an RBI single by Joel Lara (Franklin Pierce).

In the sixth inning the Bravehearts took a 3-1 lead on a two-run home run by Ben Rice (Dartmouth). It was Rice’s league leading sixth home run of the season, and second consecutive night hitting one out, but he wasn’t done just yet.

Brockton answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring four runs off of Bravehearts starter Shawn Babineau (Franklin Pierce). Giving the Rox a 5-3 lead.

In a back and forth game, Worcester answered right back in the seventh. Donnie Cohoon (Hartford) started the rally with a one out, stand up triple, and scored on a fielder’s choice. Exposito then came up and got his third hit of the game with a line drive home run into the Brockton bullpen to tie the game up at five.

The game remained scoreless the rest of the way, and after the 10^th, the game went to a home run derby. Ben Rice started it off hitting 15 for Worcester, tying the franchise record set by Paul Coumoulos last year, also in Brockton. The Rox made a push with Jake Gelof (Virginia), but he only managed to hit 12. This was the third HR Derby win for Rice this year.

The Bravehearts head back home tomorrow for a matchup with the Nashua Silver Knights. First pitch is scheduled for 6pm. This season Worcester is 4-2 against Nashua, with their last matchup coming July 28^th, with Worcester getting the 9-2 victory.