Preview of BC High Braintree Super 8 Baseball

By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)

Yesterday’s two Division 1A Super Eight games signaled the exit of one team from the field while another clinched a spot in the title game.

BC High knocked out 13 hits en route to an 8-1 win over No. 6 Xaverian to advance to the Super Eight quarterfinals in the first game of the morning. 

In the second of the two games, meanwhile, No. 1 St. John’s Shrewsbury scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth capped off by a walk off single from Jack Fields to defeat No. 3 St. John’s Prep, 4-3. 

The loss means St. John’s Prep falls to the one-loss bracket and will await the winner of Sunday night’s quarterfinal matchup between BC High and Braintree.

The Eagles and Wamps have played twice so far this season, both at BC High’s Monan Park. In the first contest between the two teams BC High held a 2-0 lead going into the top of the seventh but the Wamps rallied to score seven runs to grab a 7-2 win.

BC High got revenge on the Wamps in the first round of the Super Eight as behind a complete game from ace Mike Vasil the Eagles came away with a 3-2 win.

Now, with both team’s season on the line on Sunday night, here is how we expect the rubber match between these two teams to unfold.

No. 5 Braintree vs. No. 4 BC High

Probable Starting Pitchers: TBA – Braintree; Brendan Mignone, RHP – BC High

Date/Time/Location: June 11^th, 6pm, Campanelli Stadium

St. John's Shrewsbury Walks Off Against St. John's Prep to Make Super 8 Final

By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)

BROCKTON, Mass. - St. John’s Shrewsbury has been the top team in Massachusetts since the beginning of April, and now behind a ninth inning comeback, they are one win away from officially putting a stamp on it.

Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, St. John’s Shrewsbury battled back as Jack Gardner crushed a game tying double and Jack Fields hit a walk off bloop single to right as the Pioneers stunned St. John’s Prep, 4-3, in the Division 1A Super Eight semifinals at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton.

With the win St. John’s Shrewsbury (22-3) advances to the Super Eight finals while St. John’s Prep (16-7) drops into the one loss bracket.

Super 8 Semifinals Preview

By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)

On Thursday evening, Braintree joined St. John’s Prep and St. John’s Shrewsbury as three of the four teams who will be a member of this year’s Division 1A Super Eight “final four”.

The Wamps, who won consecutive games against eight seeded Belmont and three seeded Central Catholic facing elimination, now await the winner of BC High and Xaverian to see who they will play on Sunday.

The Eagles and Hawks are set to faceoff Saturday morning at Campanelli Stadium with each looking to make their second trip in three years to the Super Eight quarterfinals.

In the afternoon, meanwhile, the two remaining undefeated teams in the field will go head-to-head with top seeded St. John’s Shrewsbury taking on familiar foe St. John’s Prep.

Here is how we expect the two games to unfold.

Your Do-or-Die Monday Super 8 Preview

The two-time defending Super 8 champion Braintree Wamps face elimination today.   Photo by Brendan C. Hall for ESPN Boston.

By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)

For the second time in the four-year history of the MIAA Division 1A Super Eight tournament, the top four seeds won their opening round games and advanced to the winners bracket.

Number one seed St. John’s (Shrewsbury) squeaked past eighth seeded Belmont 3-1, while four seed BC High knocked off two-time defending champion and fifth seeded Braintree. On the other side of the bracket, two seeded St. John’s Prep dominated seventh seeded Newton North, 18-3, and three seed Central Catholic took care of business against sixth seeded Xaverian, 11-2.

The tournament continued on Sunday with St. John’s (Shrewsbury) topping BC High and St. John’s Prep besting Central Catholic in the winners bracket. Both St. John's squads are off to the semifinals, while BC High and Central Catholic are now one game away from elimination.

But today the one-loss bracket begins with Newton North and Xaverian going head-to-head, and Braintree playing Belmont. In each of those contests, one team will see its Super 8 dreams end. Here's how we see do-or-die Monday shaking out.

St. John's Prep Puts on Offensive Showcase to Down Newton North in Super 8

St. John's Prep put on an offensive showcase in the Eagles first Super 8 game

By Nate Weitzer (@nweitzer7)

DANVERS, Mass. - On Wednesday afternoon, the second-seeded St. John’s Prep Eagles opened the MIAA Division 1A Super 8 Tournament with a resounding 18-3 win over No. 7 Newton North on their home turf.

Yet for a program that’s gone home with a runner-up trophy in this double elimination tournament two years running, an opening-round win is merely the first step towards redemption. 

“It’s a long tournament and if you’re lucky you’ll go two or three more weeks,” Prep coach Dan Letarte said. “Winning this first game is huge because we lost our first one to Braintree last year and we had to take the harder route. We’re very humbled to be in the final six and we’re just taking it one game at a time.”

Newton North catcher Cole Whitehouse provided an early spark for the visiting Tigers (14-9) by homering to left field in his first two at-bats, giving seventh-seeded North a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom half of the third, but that’s when the host Eagles erupted with 16 runs on 17 hits over the next five frames to win going away.

Super 8 Selection Recap and Analysis

By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)

FRANKLIN, Mass. — Every year Super Eight selection Monday comes and goes and with it remains a bevy of teams in awe that they managed to slip into the field while others are left in shock that they missed out.

In less than hour, this year’s committee nominated 11 teams for the eight spots, with Lynn Classical being the only one of the 11 voted down right away. Three teams, St. John’s Shrewsbury, St. John’s Prep and Central Catholic, were unanimous votes meaning they automatically were entered as part of the Division 1A tournament. Seven others, meanwhile, received at least five of the nine votes – BC High, Braintree, Andover, Methuen, Xaverian, Newton North, and Belmont - which meant they were to be reconsidered for the final five spots.

When all was said and done, here is how the Super Eight field shook out:

1. St. John’s Shrewsbury

2. St. John’s Prep

3.    Central Catholic

4. BC High

5. Braintree

6. Xaverian

7. Newton North

8. Belmont

MIAA Baseball Super 8 Projections: 5/21/17

Can Braintree capture another Super 8 crown?   Photo by Brendan C. Hall, via ESPN Boston.

By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)

We are just over a week away from when the MIAA Division 1A “Super Eight” committee will gather at the MIAA headquarters in Franklin to vote on who the best eight teams are in Massachusetts. Despite the overall uncooperative weather this spring the Super Eight picture has begun to take shape, with many teams starting to make their case as the regular season begins to come to a close.

So, this morning, SuiteSports is excited to unveil its second Super Eight Projection. Check back on Thursday morning, May 25th, when we will unveil its third projection of the season.

Here is how we see the Super Eight field shaping up at this time:

Top-ranked St. John's Shrewsbury Baseball Edges Westborough in Greg Montalbano Classic

 
By John McGuirk (@Patsfan1313)

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. - It didn't take long for Sean Burke to realize, for whatever reason, that his usual high-80s velocity wasn't performing up to his standards.

Instead of fretting about it, the University of Maryland commit simply went to his other options. And it proved to be enough as the St. John's (Shrewsbury) righthander held Westborough to a pair of runs over his six innings of work during the Pioneers 5-2 victory Saturday in the 8th annual Greg Montalbano Classic.