Austin Brown fired a complete game Saturday and kept Bethlehem’s Tri-State championship hopes alive.
Waterbury native Austin Brown was one of the athletic casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former Holy Cross High School baseball standout moved on to Western New England University, where he was slated to be the No. 2 pitcher on the staff. Then COVID hit after just seven games. Brown made two starts for WNEU, but he never went back.
Brown wanted to bring around his youngest brother, Luke, who was born in 2019. Brown did online schooling at Post University. He was friends with some players on the Bethlehem Plowboys of the Connecticut Tri-State Baseball League, and they approached him about playing in June.
“They hit him up and said, hey, any interest in throwing still?” Bethlehem manager Rich Revere said Saturday at Municipal Stadium after his team beat the Tri-Town Trojans, 2-1, to even the best-of-three World Series at 1-1. “I’m glad he was interested in throwing baseballs.”
Brown was a very big reason why the Plowboys evened the series. The right-hander tossed a nine-inning complete game and gave up one run on three hits. Brown struck out 10 and walked one. Brown said he felt no pressure, even though Bethlehem’s backs were against the wall following a 10-1 loss Friday night at Fuessenich Park on Friday night.
“I would say probably five years,” Brown said when asked when his last big game was. “We had a couple state runs at Holy Cross. Western New England, I didn’t really get the full experience unfortunately, so yeah, this was a huge game for the past five years.”
Brown had stayed in shape during his time away from the game.
“I’ve always had the pitching mechanics down, always been working on it,” Brown said. “As soon as I got back into this, I started really working on my stamina again, and just going out there and throwing a lot of strikes.”
Brown’s pitching philosophy was simple: attack the zone, be efficient, throw a lot of strikes, and get the Plowboys back to the dugout so they could hit.
Brown got some big-time help from former Sacred Heart High School catcher Jesse Swartout, who threw out former pro baseball player Willy Yahn not once, but twice trying to steal bases. Brown also helped his own cause when he picked Owen Hibbard off first base to end the first inning.
Ian Schmidt’s RBI single got Bethlehem on the board first in the top of the second inning. Isaiah Johnson, who had singled earlier in the inning, scored when Tri-Town catcher Bryon Carr threw down to second to get Schmidt out.
Brown’s real trouble came in the seventh. Matt Troy tripled to right field with one out, then Yahn doubled down the left field line. Yahn tried to steal third with Hibbard at the plate, but Swartout threw him out. Brown struck out Hibbard to end the seventh, then retired the last six hitters he faced to finish the victory.
Brown’s a pitcher who still has college eligibility left. He might get noticed.
“I would be open to it, not going to lie. Being with the guys is a lot of fun, that team environment,” Brown said.
For now, Brown gave the Plowboys another chance to win a championship. Game 3 is today at 1 p.m. at Municipal.
GAME 1
Bethlehem needed a neuralyzer like the one Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones used in “Men in Black” after Tri-Town drubbed them, 10-1. That game must have felt like Murphy’s Law in real life. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Errors, walks and a lack of hitting doomed the Plowboys from the start. The only highlight was Jarrett Michaels’ solo homer in the bottom of the ninth.
There was also Tri-Town veteran ace Miles Scribner, who handcuffed Bethlehem’s bats in a complete game. The right-hander yielded six hits, struck out eight and walked none. Scribner was helped out by Mike Fabiaschi, Coleby Bunnell and Jon McNelis, who all doubled. The Trojans also played small ball, scoring three runs on outs (one groundout and two sacrifice flies).
PHOTO GALLERIES
My photos from Game 1.
My photos from Game 2.
