Young B-P baseball gets the best of Martha’s Vineyard in season opener

RAYNHAM— Last year, Bristol-Plymouth baseball went a bit overlooked.

While neighbors Taunton won the Division I state title, Dighton-Rehoboth made the Division III Final Four and Bridgewater-Raynham made the Division I Elite Eight, the Craftsmen too qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2019 after going 15-3 with a roster featuring nine seniors, including Taunton Daily Gazette Baseball All-Scholastic Nick Hall, as well as some talented underclassmen.

This season, though those nine players may be gone, a mix of new and returning players look determined to keep up those winning ways as they started the season off on the right foot Friday with a 7-5 non-league win over Martha's Vineyard at McKenney Field, B-P's temporary home this spring as the campus begins undergoing construction.

"I’m happy with the way we started," Craftsmen coach Brian Carvalho said. "We‘ve got a lot of hard-working kids that are really pumped up and ready to go, so it was nice to see them get their first win, get it out of their system and be ready to go."

With several players making their varsity debut on a cold, wet early spring afternoon on an unfamiliar field, Carvalho was overall impressed with his team's performance, particularly at the plate.

"We’ve got a lot of young kids who just played their first varsity game," Carvalho said. "There were a few errors in the field but overall they hit the ball well and they played pretty good."

Leading the way offensively for the Craftsmen was sophomore Cam Wilbur, who went three-for-four with three runs and an RBI on three singles while senior Nate Gosling went two-for-four with a pair of runs an an RBI off a single and a triple and sophomore Nick Pemberton went one-for-four with a double and run. Seniors Eduardo Correia and Colin Wilbur, junior Zach Branco and sophomore Cameron Cruz all recorded an RBI each, with Carvalho noting B-P's bats as their biggest asset.

"When I was making up the lineup, I had about six or seven kids who could go in those spots and I didn’t know where to put them, but the ones I did put there did the job but down the order there’s a couple I think who can do better too," Carvalho said.

On the mound, Gosling earned the win after going five innings giving up four runs on nine hits and five walks while striking out six. Colin Wilbur tossed the final two innings in relief, giving up a run on two hits while also recording a pair of strikeouts.

"I thought (Gosling) did very well," Carvalho said. "He had a rough start with the first two batters but then he struck out the next three, so he settled down and did well and then Colin came in relief and did the job."

As for the visiting Vineyarders, Mika Simmons led the way at the plate going two-for-three with a run and an RBI off a pair of singles while Liam Marek went two-for-three with a pair of singles and a run. Cam Napior earned the loss after going five full innings giving up seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits and four walks while striking out four. Sam Zack tossed a scoreless relief inning, striking out one of the four batters he faced.

The Craftsmen struck first in the bottom of the first with a pair of runs before adding three more in the second to go up 5-0. Martha's Vineyard got themselves on the board in the fourth as Nate Story and Toby Roberts drove in Simmons and Jack DeBettencourt respectively, but B-P were able to add another in the bottom half of the inning as Cam Wilbur tagged up on a Colin Wilbur lineout to center to make it 6-2. The Vineyarders added another pair of runs to cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth, but the Craftsmen continued to keep them at arm's reach as junior Bryaden Alves, who walked to start the inning, came home on a wild pitch to make it 7-4.

In the top of the seventh, the visitors staged a comeback effort as a leadoff single by Marek turned into a run when he was driven in off a DeBettencourt single, but Colin Wilbur was able to retire the sides and seal the opening day win for the home team.

Overall Carvalho said he was hopeful of his team this season, particularly at the plate, though noted they need to improve in the field after recording three errors, something which he believes will change with time.

"I think we’ll do well. Our hitting is solid one through nine, (but) we’ve just got to get the gloves to come up but they’ll be fine once the weather gets better and they get used to this field."

The Craftsmen kick off their Mayflower League schedule Thursday as they travel to the Swansea YMCA to take on longtime foes Diman, something which Carvalho believes will provide a real measure of his team's abilities.

"They’re in our division and they’re a tough, tough team so we’ll have to step it up a little bit and that’ll give us a good test as to where we are," Carvalho said.

First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in Swansea.

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Strong offense, solid pitching power B-P past MV in season opener