'They took us on a journey': Braintree baseball proud of playoff run to state final

WORCESTER -- Don Fredericks still would have been proud.
And who knows, maybe he had something to do with it.
Fredericks was the head coach for the Braintree High baseball program's first three state crowns (1972, 1984, 1989) -- highlights of a glorious two-decade reign in the dugout that saw him win 337 games and 11 Bay State Conference championships. Fredericks passed away at the age of 79 last spring, and his old team decided to honor him this season with a memorial tournament in his name.
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The Wamps staggered into that four-team get-together in the midst of an injury-riddled slump, but perhaps their old boss sent them some mojo from the Great Ballpark in the Sky. Braintree won the tournament (which was played at BC High due to field conditions), beating Westwood and the hosts, and used that momentum as a springboard into an unexpected playoff run.
"When we got to that tournament, that's when all that momentum started," Wamps coach Bill O'Connell said. "We started believing."
A four-game romp through the postseason brought them to the precipice of what would have been the program's sixth state crown, the most ever by a Massachusetts high school baseball team, according to MIAA record keeping. In the end, it wasn't to be as Chelmsford busted loose for six runs in the top of the ninth inning Friday night to post an 8-2 win in the Division 1 state final at Polar Park.
"Amazing season," O'Connell said near the third-base dugout as the eighth-seeded Wamps (16-9) glumly watched the 14th-seeded Lions (19-8) hoist the trophy. "They took us on a journey. They took the whole community on an unbelievable journey. They played great. That's a very good (Chelmsford) team. They had 15 hits. They were challenging us every inning. We held them off for as long as we could."
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That Braintree was even here was a victory of sorts as the Wamps had slumped badly late in the regular season, weighed down by injuries that claimed star pitcher Max DeRoche (Tommy John surgery) and Peter Brooks (hamstring tear). Brooks made it back in time for the playoffs and had a big night in the title game, going 3-for-4 with a run scored.
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With DeRoche sidelined, Braintree went with a two-man pitching rotation down the stretch as senior right-hander Connor Grieve and sophomore lefty Luke Joyce swapped complete games back and forth. Joyce almost made it five CGs in five playoff rounds, but he eventually ran out of gas with one out in the seventh and gave way to Matt Rodgers.
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"Luke made some pitches to get out of some serious jams," O'Connell said. "Luke pitched his butt off. He gave us everything he had on short rest."
Braintree's Sean Canavan, center, cheers on Matt Rodgers during a game in the Division 1 state championship at Polar Park in Worcester on Friday, June 13, 2025.
Braintree was resilient but just could not take enough advantage of its opportunities in the final. After Rodgers' RBI single in the sixth knotted the score at 2-2, the Wamps had a pair of golden chances to win the title in walk-off style as they got the leadoff runner on in both the seventh and eighth innings.
Each time, Chelmsford starter Matt Stuart (bound for Div. 1 Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina) was up to the task, striking out Owen Donnelly (1-for-4, run) to end the seventh with runners on first and second and fanning Joyce to end the eighth with a runner on second. The Wamps went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of ninth, obviously deflated by Chelmsford's knockout blow in the top of the top of the frame.
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"We just couldn't get the big hit," O'Connell lamented. "We had opportunities to score; we just couldn't get it done against a (future) Division 1 (college) pitcher. We battled all day."
Braintree jumped out in front 1-0 as Grieve singled home Donnelly in the third, driving an 0-2 pitch the other way to short right field. Grieve was coming off a huge day in the semifinals, having gone 4-for-4 with 4 RBIs in an 8-3 win over King Philip at LeLacheur Park in Lowell earlier in the week. That had prompted O'Connell to dub him the MVP of the playoffs.
Braintree's Peter Brooks, right, celebrates with Michael Ryan a game in the Division 1 state championship at Polar Park in Worcester on Friday, June 13, 2025.
Chelmsford struck for two fluke runs in the fifth as Braintree let a two-out pop fly along the first-base line fall in as two runners scampered home. Undeterred, the Wamps tied it back up before eventually succumbing in the ninth as Chelmsford strung together four hits, two walks (one intentional), a hit batter and a sac fly to send 10 men to the plate, ending Braintree's dream of its first crown since winning back-to-back Super 8 titles in 2015 and 2016 with O'Connell in the dugout.
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"This is my fourth state championship (appearance)," said O'Connell, whose 2014 team lost in the Super 8 championship game. "Those other teams were loaded. I told the guys in the locker room today, 'I'm so proud of you guys because you're just a bunch of sandlot players. Just a bunch of guys who battle together.' The teams in the past had ridiculous talent. These guys just battled and it's amazing what they did this year."
"We're not the most talented team," agreed senior first baseman Sean Canavan, who will play at UMass-Lowell, "but we had great chemistry and we just wanted it more."
A talented senior class -- Grieve, Canavan, Donnelly, Rodgers, Cam Crook and Colin Kacey -- will be hard to replace, but the Wamps will bring back a slew of talent next spring to try again.
"The future is very bright here," sophomore shortstop Michael Ryan said. "We'll be back next year."
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Braintree baseball falls to Chelmsford in MIAA state championship

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