Brotherly reunion, and battle, for Barnstable grads

March 18, 2016

By Paul Godfrey, Cape Cod Times

BUZZARDS BAY - Growing up just two years apart, brothers Everett and Conor Walsh had always competed on the same team, whether it was Little League, American Legion or the Barnstable High School baseball team.

Other than in an inter-squad game or maybe the occasional Whiffle ball game in the back yard, Everett never faced his younger brother Conor in an actual game. Until Friday.

Everett Walsh is a senior for Massachusetts Maritime Academy while Conor is a sophomore at Clark University. The elder Walsh was in right field for MMA in Friday’s game while the younger Walsh was the starting pitcher for Clark in the non-league battle.

Everett Walsh came out on the winning side, going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored to help lead the Buccaneers (3-4) to an 8-3 victory over the Cougars in a non-league battle at Hendy Field on the campus of MMA.

Conor Walsh started and pitched five innings for Clark (6-8), striking out two and scattering six hits while battling control problems. He battled out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and pitched a scoreless second before yielding a pair of runs in the third.

Walsh left after facing three batters in the sixth and ended up on the short end of the outcome, but it was still quite a day for both of the former Barnstable High School standouts from Marstons Mills.

“It was a lot different,” said Everett Walsh. “I usually approach every game the same way, but I was way more nervous and didn’t know what to expect. I never have faced him live before but it was exciting after getting the first AB out of the way.”

Everett went 1-for-2 with a walk against his younger brother. He flied out in the first inning before walking and scoring MMA’s first run in the third. In the bottom of the fourth, the elder Walsh lined a two-out RBI double to right-center off Conor to tie the game at 3.

“Definitely a cool experience especially since he’s a senior and it’s his last year,” Conor Walsh said afterward. “I tried to treat it like any other batter, just focus on the (catcher’s) glove and do my best. I threw a slider what I thought was in the dirt and he took into the gap.”

“It’s really rare so it’s a great opportunity for them to play against each other,” said first-year MMA head coach Mike Kelley. “Probably on the same team growing up all those years so it’s a neat thing that they can go up against each other.”

Another interested observer was Sean Walsh, father of Everett and Conor.

“It was kind of nerve-racking,” said Sean Walsh. “I’m always rooting for both of them. It’s tough to watch one pitch against the other.”

Walsh has been a coach for 29 years, many of which included one or both of his sons playing for him.

“It was never easy coaching my own kids, but I’m glad to see that they are on their own and doing well, “ he said. “I can just be a dad.”

It wasn’t easy for MMA’s Everett Walsh to root against his younger brother from the opposing side of the field.

“I was in the dugout and found myself cheering for him,” Everett Walsh said. “I’m like, ‘Come on, let’s... It was really weird. We didn’t him that hard and he pitched pretty well.”

But for the three times that the elder Walsh was in the batter’s box, all bets were off.

“I didn’t feel bad at all -- I needed to get a hit off of him,” said Everett of his fourth inning double. “I wasn’t going down without getting a hit. We were always wicked competitive growing up and he would always say, ‘I’ll strike you out, no problem.’ I guess I got the better of that one.”

Kelley got his first home win on a blustery day that included a slight delay due when hail blew out of a brief thunderstorm. Tommy Walls went 4-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for the Bucs while Brian Kwedor earned the win with three hitless innings in relief of his brother, Kevin.