Advertisement

2023 MIAA BASEBALL PLAYOFFS: See which 6 SouthCoast teams qualified and who they will face

laurie los lee, standard-times
·4 min read

Six of SouthCoast's nine baseball teams have qualified for the 2023 MIAA playoffs.

Here’s a look at each team and their opening matchup:

Apponequet's Nathan Levesque and Austyn Travis first bump at the start of the inning.
Apponequet's Nathan Levesque and Austyn Travis first bump at the start of the inning.

APPONEQUET

Record: 10-10

Seed: No. 18 in Div. 3

Opening matchup: Visits No. 15 Sandwich (16-4) at 4 p.m. on Monday in the Round of 32 .

Outlook: The Lakers won five of their last six games of the regular season and will look to carry that momentum into the tournament. Nate Levesque has been strong all year at the plate and on the mound. He threw his second no-hitter of 2023 in Apponequet’s regular season finale against Dartmouth.

POLL Vote for the SouthCoast Baseball Player of the Week for May 22-29

Bishop Stang's Brock Winslow is congratulated by a teammate.
Bishop Stang's Brock Winslow is congratulated by a teammate.

BISHOP STANG

Record: 13-5

Seed: No. 3 in Div. 3

Opening matchup: Hosts the winner of No. 30 Dighton-Rehoboth (9-11) and No. 35 Greater Lowell Tech (10-8) in the Round of 32 at a date and time to be announced.

Outlook: The Catholic Central League co-champion Spartans ended the regular season by winning their final two games to lock up the No. 3 seed. “We played great,” said Bishop Stang head coach Brian Rose. “The team has really come together at the end.” Stang is averaging 5.5 runs per game and has a team batting average of .317 with contributions from a slew of guys including Brock Winslow (.486), Ryan Jones (.466), Matt Burt (.380), Drew Taylor (.343) and Cam Letourneau (.316). Aiden Cardoza is 6-3 on the mound this season, striking out 81 while walking 16 in 50 innings for an ERA of 1.23. Letourneau has also been strong, going 4-1 with an ERA of 2.15 with 46 strikeouts and 18 walks in 35 innings. Burt, a sophomore, has pitched 28 innings, striking out 31 and walking 11 for a 3-1 record and .5 ERA.

With a cloud of dirt coming from the glove, Dartmouth's Donovan Burgo frames the pitch.
With a cloud of dirt coming from the glove, Dartmouth's Donovan Burgo frames the pitch.

DARTMOUTH

Record: 14-6

Seed: No. 13 in Div. 2

Opening matchup: Hosts No. 20 Westfield (11-7) at 4 p.m. on Monday in the Round of 32 at UMass Dartmouth.

Outlook: Dartmouth head coach Mike Frates believes his team is ready for the playoffs. “We’ve played well toward the end of the season,” he said. “We’ve had some games where we’ve had to come back. We’ve had a little bit of everything.” Dartmouth has won five of its last seven games. Donovan Burgo and Chase Lackie are both batting over .300 while Aiden Smith is at .284. Smith is also 2-1 on the mound. “We’re looking forward to it,” Frates said. “The big thing is trying to keep everybody focused with everything going on.”

Fairhaven's Luke Gomes stares down the target for the Blue Devils.
Fairhaven's Luke Gomes stares down the target for the Blue Devils.

FAIRHAVEN

Record: 11-7

Seed: No. 24 in Div. 3

Opening matchup: Hosts No. 41 Diman (11-9) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday in the Round of 32.

Outlook: After starting the season 7-1, the Blue Devils have struggled with consistency as of late and haven’t been able to string together a two-game win streak since the end of April. “We need to be playing our best ball,” said Fairhaven head coach Rudy Bulgar. “We need to put it all together and be consistent.” Colby Correia (.431), Luke Gomes (.382) and Tyler Mahone (.357) are all hitting over .350 this year and will need big performances at the plate on Friday night.

GNB Voc-Tech's Cam Cabral fires to the plate.
GNB Voc-Tech's Cam Cabral fires to the plate.

GNB VOC-TECH

Record: 14-6

Seed: No. 14 in Div. 3

Opening matchup: Hosts No. 19 North Reading (15-5) at 4 p.m. on Sunday in the Round of 32.

Outlook: The Bears are looking to get back on track after losing their final two games of the regular season. “As for the bracket, there are lots of very good, unfamiliar teams,” said GNB Voc-Tech head coach Matt Semiao. “That being said, we know that when we play how we're capable of playing, we can compete with anyone, and at this time of the season anything can happen.” Cam Cabral is 8-1 on the mound with a .91 ERA, striking out 57 over 54 innings. He’s also batting .296 with a home run and 19 RBIs. Boston Bettencourt (.404 avg., 19 runs scored, 10 RBIs and seven stolen bases), Noah Mello (.354 avg., 20 runs, seven RBIs and seven stolen bases), Kolbey DesRoches (.386 avg., 13 runs and seven RBIs), Chase Lagoa (.339 and 16 RBIs) and Nate Roderiques (.294, 15 runs and nine RBIs) have powered the offense.

Old Colony's Matt McGuiggan just gets under the ball.
Old Colony's Matt McGuiggan just gets under the ball.

OLD COLONY

Record: 9-9

Seed: No. 34 in Div. 5

Opening matchup: Visits No. 31 West Boylston (9-11) at 4 p.m. on Saturday in a preliminary round game.

Outlook: After finishing the regular season as the Mayflower Athletic Conference champions, the Cougars are looking to keep their season going and have the athletes to do it.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: MIAA 2023 baseball playoff preview for SouthCoast