It's been a long road back for this Somerset native baseball and football star
SMITHFIELD, R.I. — The irony isn’t lost on Brandyn Durand.
All the hits he dished out and took on the football field couldn't physically break him. It was a diving attempt for a fly ball in a baseball game that ultimately did the worst damage.
The former three-sport star at Bishop Hendricken is in the midst of rebuilding his career on the diamond at Bryant. The Bulldogs are rolling along atop the America East standings and improved their strong overall record with a 12-2 victory over Merrimack on Tuesday afternoon.
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Durand has settled into a regular role as a catcher and designated hitter. The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder is batting in the middle of the Bryant order, and the physical tools that allowed him to dominate most of his Interscholastic League opponents are back on display. Durand returned to Conaty Park fresh off home runs in each game of a weekend series at Pittsburgh, as the Bulldogs clipped an ACC opponent in the Friday opener.
“It’s not going to be a straight line,” Durand said. “Everybody’s career is filled with ups and downs. It’s kind of how you bounce back from those downs that defines you as a person and as a player.”
Super Bowl success, gold medals on the track, Gatorade Player of the Year honors in baseball — it seemed like nothing but ups for Durand with the Hawks. The summer after his graduation featured the first major down — labrum and cartilage tears in his left shoulder after a collision diving for a ball in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. Durand was playing in the outfield for the Utica Blue Sox and, unlike just about any other time in his athletic life to that point, he stayed down after smashing into a teammate on a drive to deep left-center field.
“Contact sport, football — he’s going to get hurt,” Durand said. “Concussions, ACL this, ACL that. And then I did it on the baseball field.”
Durand underwent major surgery that threatened to sideline him for up to a full year. There was no longer a guaranteed roster spot for him at Kentucky, and his baseball recruitment was suddenly open again. Bryant eventually emerged as an option, and it’s been mutually beneficial. Durand entered Tuesday second on the team in extra-base hits, was tied for the team lead with 11 stolen bases and was tied for second on the roster with eight home runs.
“He wants to be great,” Bryant head coach Ryan Klosterman said. “The compliment I would give him is he shows up every single day wide-eyed and wanting more. He works his butt off. He plays the game hard.”
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Durand played sparingly in 2023 for national junior college power Chipola, a Florida program that counts former La Salle left-hander Kyle Regnault and former Hendricken outfielder Tucker Flint among its alums. It wasn’t until last summer when Durand hit his stride again in upstate New York. He slashed .330/.383/.526 and cracked five home runs in 25 games with the Sherrill Silversmiths, setting the stage for an instant fall impact with the Bulldogs.
“It always feels good,” Durand said. “Especially coming off an injury, being able to get those consistent at-bats. Showing what I can do on the baseball field again and proving to myself that I can still do this.”
Durand’s reset on the field came partly thanks to another Hawks alum. Dennis Duffy, a former infielder with Bishop Hendricken and in college at American International, is Sherrill’s team president and the treasurer of the New York Collegiate Baseball League. Durand felt comfortable and cared for while going about his daily routine and he's found the same moving back closer to his Somerset, Mass., home.
“The portal gives you a second chance,” Klosterman said. “I think a lot of guys have found the place they’re supposed to be playing or found a spot where their abilities have been able to come out.”
Durand isn’t the only former Power 5 talent currently making a difference with Bryant. Cranston native Daniel Baruch (Boston College), Carmine Petosa (Wake Forest), Tyler Tornberg (Rutgers) and Luke Delongchamp (Boston College) also have carved out niches with the Bulldogs. Baruch crushed a home run to deep center against the Warriors and Petosa has emerged as something of a veteran mentor.
“I see what I want to become as a player,” Durand said. “I want the younger guys to look up to me the way I look up to him.”
Durand will play for the Mat-Su Miners in the Alaskan Baseball League this summer, suiting up for the eight-time champions. Garrett Richards and Nick Senzel are among notable league alums, a former Red Sox right-hander and current Cincinnati Reds outfielder, respectively. The Bulldogs have produced 24 players selected in the Major League Baseball draft since 2009. Durand, despite an unexpected detour, could still be on track to reach his dream destination in the near future.
“I don’t want to project the future,” Klosterman said. “You come up short of some of those things. But if he continues to play the game the way that he does, good things usually happen to those types of players.”
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This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Somerset native football, baseball ace Brandyn Durand finds his stride
