PEABODY — When his baseball playing days are over, Northeastern Conference MVP Cam Connolly might try his hand at poker.
Unflappable, resilient and impossible to read either on the pitcher’s mound or up at bat, Peabody head coach Mark Bettencourt recently joked that Connolly should schedule a physical because he appears not to have a pulse.
That cool-as-a-cucumber demeanor was a major factor in delivering the Tanners a Division 1 preliminary round triumph Friday night at Bezemes Diamond. Connolly tossed a complete game 4-hitter, knocked in the tying run with a deep triple in the sixth, then scored the go-ahead run in a 4-1 victory over Belmont.
“Coach Betts always says that when the money is on the table, you’ve got to come through. That’s what I did,” said Connolly, who improved to 8-1 this spring and earned his first career playoff win.
The 29th seeded Tanners (17-4) now travel to face No. 4 Braintree (17-3) Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Round of 32. To earn that chance, Peabody had to come from behind on its home field thanks to an inspired pitching performance by Belmont lefty Kyle Ksander.
With just two hits through five innings, the Tanners trailed 1-0 heading to the bottom of the sixth. Jariel Tolentino worked a leadoff walk and, since it was the third time through the batting order, Peabody felt it had seen enough to make adjustments and do some damage.
“We told the kids all we need to do it score two runs and then get three outs,” said Bettencourt. “We were actually in a pretty good spot.”
Tolentino stole second, barely beating the throw by sliding around the tag, then got a great jump to swipe third. With one out, Connolly belted a triple to the right field fence to square the score, 1-1.
“Coach Ro-Yo (Rob Young) told us we didn’t want the season to end, it was time to get it going,” said Connolly. “I saw a lot of front door curves and I think (Ksander) was trying to get me to roll over again; I got a good pitch to hit.”
With Connolly on third and senior cleanup man Reymi Andino up to bat, Bettencourt let his two four-year guys dictate the next move. Rather than try break the tie with a squeeze, Andino opted to swing away and the big third baseman delivered with a single that handcuffed the shortstop and plated the go-ahead run.
With two outs, Noah Crocker dropped in an RBI single for some insurance. Joey Smith (2-for-3) then hit a deep double to complete a four-run, sixth inning rally.
“We may have lulled them to sleep with the way we hit in the first five innings,” said Bettencourt. “We didn’t hit the ball real hard and that brought the outfielders in … fortunately, then we hit it over ’em.”
Connolly got the the first two outs of the seventh on just three pitches, then hit a batter and gave up a single to make things interesting. Tolentino snared the final out with a ranging grab to end it, however.
Throwing 101 pitches, Connolly walked only one and struck out five. As usual, his command was his best friend.
“We probably threw six 3-2 curves. You can do that with a kid like Cam,” said Bettencourt. “He can throw any pitch in any count. He just controls the game so well.”
Belmont took a 1-0 lead when Ksander reached on an error in the third. He moved to third on a pair of groundouts, then scored by scooting home when the Tanners tried to throw out a runner stealing second with two outs. It was the kind of mental error that might rattle some hurlers, but not Connolly.
“I don’t like to show emotion because I don’t want to get too high or too low,” said Connolly. “Stuff happens in a game. I know how I act on the mound might effect the rest of the team; if I sulk, we might fall apart.”
Senior captain Mike Petro had Peabody’s first hit in the fourth inning but was stranded on third; the Tanners were 0-for-8 with runners on base until the sixth.
Bettencourt considered throwing freshman Dylan Cunningham Friday to potentially give Connolly a shot at Braintree. Ultimately, the coach felt like he couldn’t risk losing a game with his MVP not having pitched in the playoffs.
“It’s a good thing we threw Cam because we had to scratch and fight for everything in this game. That was a great battle between two lefties,” said Bettencourt, whose team will try for the upset — and its first road playoff win in over 10 years — Sunday night.
“We know we’re walking into a lion’s den. We’ve played there before … it’s a tough task, but we’ll be ready to battle.”