Squeeze Play Charges Nauset Baseball In Comeback Playoff Win

ORLEANS – Not once in Nauset baseball head coach Brett Labonte’s three years managing the varsity team has he ever called for a squeeze.

Much can go wrong with the play — a sacrifice bunt laid down with a runner on third (often delineated along the lines of a safety squeeze, wherein the baserunner waits for the bunt to be put down before crashing for home, versus the suicide squeeze, in which the runner takes off on the pitch). It just isn’t something Labonte likes to do. 

Sometimes though, when you really need a run, and you have just the guy at the plate you trust to get the bunt down, you go for it.

The No. 23 Warriors (6-11) went for it Friday. They busted out a comeback-igniting squeeze, eventually beating No. 42 Greater Lawrence Tech (10-10) 7-4 in the preliminary round of the Division 3 state tournament at Eldredge Park.

“You’ve kind of got to be comfortable being uncomfortable when you get to the playoffs,” Labonte said. “You might have to do something you're not used to.”

Nauset trailed 3-0 after one inning. In the bottom of the second, the Warriors had two runners on — including sophomore Ryan Dutra at third — with one out and sophomore Mac Heinz stepping to bat. Labonte looked toward third base coach Tyler Ferdinand. The two coaches have been best friends since they were kids, and Labonte didn’t have to say a word. He just nodded. Ferdinand relayed the call.

Dutra careened down the baseline on the windup — suicide squeeze-style. Heinz put down a soft bunt back up the middle, scoring Dutra and actually almost also scoring sophomore Max Furman, who dashed around third for home as Greater Lawrence Tech dealt with retiring Heinz at first. A great throw cut down Furman for the double play.

In the scorebook, the play went down as a 1-3-2 sacrifice bunt double play, with favorable odds the squeeze stands as the most unique RBI in Heinz’s career and approximately Exhibit #85,223 in support of the adage that something new happens on a baseball diamond every day. Regardless, the bunt brought in the first run of seven unanswered for the Warriors over the next five innings.

Though it was the first time Labonte had ever called for the squeeze at Nauset, the play didn’t come out of thin air. They had prepared for such a playoff moment, one that begs for risk.

“We practiced that all day yesterday, got a lot of work in on it, and it worked out perfectly,” Dutra said after the game.

After Greater Lawrence Tech’s leadoff three-spot, Nauset starter Jake Doherty, a senior, delivered three additional clean innings. He switched positions in the fifth with sophomore shortstop Lyle Blatz, who struck out eight to close out the win.

Nauset tied the game in the fourth inning on RBI singles by Dutra and senior Tyler Manchuk and took the lead in the fifth, a 2-RBI single from Dutra serving as the big blow.

 The Warriors were no strangers to comebacks and difficult situations entering the preliminary round of the state tournament. Per the MIAA’s opposition rating metric, Nauset had the most difficult schedule in Division 3 (a rating of 3.1416; not one of Division 3’s 72 other teams eclipsed 3.000). They were set to face No. 10 Gloucester (17-3) in the following round of the tournament Tuesday (after The Chronicle’s deadline).

“I think it just took the kids time to realize how hard they've been challenged all year, and they've kind of picked up on the fact that it's going to take a lot to kill them if they want to,” Labonte said. “If they stay in it and they keep playing hard, there's not a team that is just going to put them away if they play their game.”

This squad’s seniors have been with Labonte since their freshman year, when he coached junior varsity. They went up to varsity together with Labonte, and he’s watched them grow into leaders, he said.

Those senior players formed a significant part of Nauset’s come-from-behind effort. Doherty rebounded on the mound after the shaky first. Seamus Mahoney and Colin Potter made multiple big defensive plays at the infield corners (Mahoney also scored twice). Emmet Blatz recorded a single and a double while also providing a reliable glove behind the plate. Manchuk delivered the game-tying hit.

“I'm lucky I have those guys that I can trust in big moments, that they're not going to flounder,” Labonte said.