They still made the trip and played the game, but the Hopkinton baseball team knew what was going to happen before they arrived at Conant on Thursday. That’s because Assistant Coach Richard Brandt is, apparently, a fortune teller.
“We were on the bus and I said, ‘What’s it going to take today?’ And (Brandt) said, ‘I’m going to tell you this right now, we get two in the first and we’re going to win this game,’ ” Hopkinton Coach Dave Chase said. “We got two in the first and that’s all we got, but that’s all we needed.”
Senior Kyle Slevira made sure two was enough as he pitched a two-hitter to lead the No. 18 Hawks (10-9) to a 2-0 stunner over No. 2 Conant (14-3) in the second round of the Division III playoffs.
“I did hear (Brandt) say that, and when we got two in the first I was like, there we go, we got that lead,” Slevira said.
Hopkinton’s upset came on the same day No. 16 Raymond shocked two-time defending champion and top-ranked Campbell, 9-5. The win puts the Hawks in a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday against No. 6 Bishop Brady. And the bottom half of the D-III bracket is now full of local teams – Hopkinton, Brady, No. 3 Belmont and No. 6 Bow.
Not only did Slevira earn the win on the mound, he also started the game’s only offensive rally. The senior roped a single to center with one out in the first and then scored when Alex Lajeunesse drove the next pitch to the right field gap for a double. Dustin Rose (two hits) eventually plated Lajeunesse with a two-out single.
“Last year, our motto was get a lead and then get a bigger lead, so when we scored two, we brought that back. Someone in the dugout said it, ‘We got a lead let’s get a bigger one,’ ” Slevira said. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to get a bigger lead, but that’s all we needed.”
That because Slevira was dealing. He spotted his fastball early, had his changeup working late, walked just two and struck out 10. And when the game was on the line with the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth, Slevira came up with his best, striking out three straight Orioles to get out of the inning.
“When they got the bases loaded, yeah, it’s scary,” Slevira said. “But I play with emotion and I wasn’t going to let that team get the best of me.”
“It was pretty freaking incredible,” Chase said. “That’s as big of a performance as we’ve had here in probably four years.”
When Selvira took the mound for the seventh, the same part of the order that he had struck out to end the fourth was due up.
“When I came out in the seventh I was thinking the last time I faced these guys I struck out all three in a row, so I couldn’t have been more confident,” Slevira said. “Plus, I trusted my guys behind me to make plays.”
The Hawks started the season 1-4 and they were just 4-8 on May 16. But they felt good coming into the playoffs.
“Before the tournament we won four in a row, and then we lost by one to Campbell, so I knew we had it in us to win some ball games,” Slevira said. “Earlier in the year we weren’t focused, and it wasn’t because we weren’t good enough, it was lack of effort. And I think as some of the seniors on the team realized, this is our last year of playing high school baseball, so we want to make some memories, and that’s what we did today.”