A big lesson was learned here: NEVER try to figure out the MIAA algorithm.
Even with some of our local baseball teams like Newburyport, Pentucket and Georgetown winning consistently over the last few weeks, they’ve still continually fallen in their respective divisions with each new release of the rankings. We knew that those three would automatically be in the playoffs having finished their regular seasons with a .500 or better record. But for Amesbury and Triton, their playoff hopes looked all but dashed following this past weekend.
Uh, think again.
With the release of the official MIAA baseball brackets on Wednesday morning, all five of our local CAL teams have, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, made the playoffs.
Especially in Division 4, where a young Amesbury squad will get some great postseason experience having snuck in at No. 31. The Redhawks (4-16) were the “last team in” the field at No. 32 when the latest rankings were released last Friday morning, yet somehow moved up a spot in the final bracket despite losing to both Georgetown and Triton in the Bert Spofford Tournament this weekend. But, again, how that math works doesn’t matter now for Josh Roberts (.381), Connor Scialdone (.250, HR) and the rest of the team, who will host No. 34 St. Mary’s Parish in the preliminary round on Thursday at 4 p.m.
And a victory there will set up a date with No. 2 Lynnfield in the first round.
Then moving up to Division 3, Triton (9-11) was similarly the last team in the field in Friday’s update. However, a loss to Pentucket followed by a victory over Amesbury in the Spoffford was still enough to move Gavin Fraser (.463), Josh Hersey (.298), Nick Bonasera (1.44 ERA, 49 Ks in 39.0 IP) and the Vikings up a spot to No. 31 in the official bracket. A time and date has not yet been set, but the Vikings will host No. 34 Oakmont in the preliminary round.
Strangely, Newburyport (13-7) finished with the most wins of any area team, but is the lowest ranked of them all at No. 36 in Division 3. For Evan Luekens (5-2, 2.32 ERA, 56 Ks in 42.1 IP), Parker Johnson (.292) and a young Clippers team, they’ll travel over to No. 29 Hudson for a preliminary round game on Friday night with a 7 p.m. scheduled first pitch.
Pentucket, meanwhile, is fresh off winning the Spofford Tournament and has drawn the No. 30 seed in Division 3. The Panthers (11-9) will welcome in No. 35 Blackstone Valley for a prelim game on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. But with Patrick Stewart (1.67 ERA, 44 Ks in 42.0 IP) and Luke Pergola (1.82 ERA, 49 Ks in 50.0 IP) at the top of the rotation, along with Julien Powers (.365), Tanner Kamuda (.309), Tedy Cloutier (.303) and Donovan Yoder (.300) powering the lineup, the Panthers have the ability to pull off some upsets.
Finally, down in Division 5, Georgetown (10-10) has earned the No. 16 seed and will host No. 17 Lenox in the first round (time/date TBD). And there’s a chance that Ollie Thibeault (.351, 3-3, 2.05 ERA), Ty Southall (.339, 5-2, 0.79 ERA), Brendan Loewen (.317) and the Royals could face top-seeded Pioneer Valley in the Round of 16, who they beat in the semifinals last year.
Here are the complete brackets for each division that includes a local team.
DIVISION 3
SEEDS: 1. St. Mary’s (19-3); 2. Norwell (16-4); 3. Foxborough (13-8); 4. Shawsheen Valley (20-0); 5. Bishop Stang (13-5); 6. Auburn (17-2); 7. Sandwich (15-5); 8. Weston (15-5); 9. North Reading (16-4); 10. Gloucester (19-1); 11. Arlington Catholic (12-6); 12. Hanover (12-6); 13. Wakefield (15-5); 14. Falmouth (12-6); 15. Dighton-Rehoboth (14-6); 16. Apponequet (10-10); 17. Taconic (11-8); 18. Boston Latin Academy (17-6); 19. Fairhaven (12-7); 20. Greater New Bedford (10-9); 21. Holliston (14-8); 22. Medway (12-8);
23. North Middlesex (15-5); 24. Medfield (11-8); 25. Tantasqua (13-7); 26. Dover-Sherborn (12-8); 27. Tewksbury (10-12); 28. Belchertown (13-5); 29. Hudson (13-7); 30. PENTUCKET (11-9); 31. TRITON (9-11); 32. Ashland (12-8); 33. Martha’s Vineyard (10-9); 34. Oakmont (12-6); 35. Blackstone Valley (10-10); 36. NEWBURYPORT (13-7); 37. Bedford (10-10); 38. Nipmuc (12-8); 39. Groton-Dunstable (8-8); 40. Lowell Catholic (10-10); 41. Greater Lowell (11-9); 42. Montachusett (11-9); 43. Nashoba Valley (10-6)
Local Preliminary Round Games
Friday, May 30th
No. 35 Blackstone Valley at No. 30 Pentucket, 4 p.m.
No. 36 Newburyport at No. 29 Hudson, 7 p.m.
TBD
No. 34 Oakmont at No. 31 Triton, TBD
DIVISION 4
SEEDS: 1. Pittsfield (16-4); 2. Lynnfield (16-4); 3. Hamilton-Wenham (17-3); 4. Saint John Paul II (19-2); 5. Millbury (15-5); 6. Seekonk (12-8); 7. East Bridgewater (12-8); 8. Clinton (13-5); 9. Uxbridge (15-5); 10. Northbridge (11-7); 11. Dennis-Yarmouth (9-11); 12. Monument Mountain (13-7); 13. Salem (9-11); 14. Joseph Case (9-11); 15. Abington (10-10); 16. Frontier (12-8); 17. Old Colony (13-5); 18. Stoneham (7-13); 19. Cohasset (10-10);
20. Manchester Essex (9-10); 21. Monomoy (14-6); 22. Advanced Math & Science (11-7); 23. Rockland (7-11); 24. Oxford (10-10); 25. Mashpee (7-15); 26. Hampshire (9-9); 27. Upper Cape Cod (16-4); 28. West Bridgewater (7-13); 29. Lunenburg (11-9); 30. Blue Hills (10-7); 31. AMESBURY (4-16); 32. Smith Vocational (13-5); 33. Minuteman (12-8); 34. St. Mary Parish (11-6); 35. South Hadley (12-8); 36. Gardner (9-9); 37. Saint Bernard’s (10-8); 38. East Boston (9-9); 39. Roxbury Prep (13-3)
Local Preliminary Round Games
Thursday, May 29th
No. 34 St. Mary’s Parish at No. 31 Amesbury, 4 p.m.
DIVISION 5
SEEDS: 1. Pioneer Valley (20-0); 2. English High (17-5); 3. Drury (17-3); 4. Hopedale (13-7); 5. Ware (18-2); 6. Hopkins Academy (12-8); 7. Charlestown (13-5); 8. Greenfield (13-7); 9. Bartlett (11-7); 10. Bromfield School (16-2); 11. Mount Everett (11-7); 12. Westport (14-6); 13. Carver (6-12); 14. Athol (11-7); 15. Westfield Technical (15-3); 16. GEORGETOWN (10-10); 17. Lenox (12-7); 18. Maynard (13-6); 19. McCann Tech (9-8); 20. Mystic Valley (12-8); 21. Boston International (12-4); 22. Rockport (5-13);
23. Franklin County Tech (10-10); 24. Sutton (9-9); 25. Ayer Shirley (10-8); 26. Millis (4-14); 27. Monson (10-9); 28. Easthampton (6-14); 29. Hull (10-10); 30. Turners Falls (8-10); 31. Mount Greylock (8-12); 32. Bourne (3-17); 33. West Boylston (12-8); 34. Keefe Tech (11-6); 35. Pathfinder (9-9); 36. Avon (9-5); 37. Wareham (10-9); 38. Springfield Int’l Charter (9-9); 39. Madison Park Vocational (9-7); 40. Atlantis Charter (9-9); 41. Boston Collegiate Charter (12-7); 42. Salem Academy Charter (12-7); 43. New Mission (11-5); 44. Neighborhood House (10-8)
Local First Round Games
TBD
No. 17 Lenox Memorial at No. 16 Georgetown, TBD