Marshfield's Kwedors k-ing competition at Mass. Maritime

May 9, 2016

By Lanny Larason, Marshfield Mariner

The last National League pitcher to win 30 games in a season was Jerome “Dizzy” Dean of the 1934 “Gashouse Gang” St. Louis Cardinals who ended up winning the World Series in seven games over the Detroit Tigers. Dean went 30-8 that season. His younger brother and Cardinal teammate, Paul or, as he came to be known, “Daffy,” was a 19-game winner himself. In the World Series against the Tigers, Dizzy and Paul each won two games to pitch the Redbirds to the title and Hollywood later made a movie mostly about Dizzy called “The Pride of St. Louis.”

This year's Massachusetts Maritime Academy baseball team features Marshfield's Kwedor brothers, Kevin and Brian, who unlike the Deans throw from opposite sides. Dizzy and Daffy were both right-handers while Kevin Kwedor is a 6-foot, 4-inch senior lefty and Brian, a 6-foot, 5-inch freshman comes at hitters from the other side.

The Kwedors are two stalwarts of the MMA pitching staff, which advanced to the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference championship game for the first time in school history. The Buccaneers lost the deciding game to Salem State on Sunday afternoon but will play Brandeis on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. in the ECAC New England quarterfinals.

The Kwedors have had an impact on the 2016 MMA season comparable to the Deans and the Cardinals in '34. The Bucs left the field after their Sunday loss to the Vikings with a season record of 23-15. The Kwedors, with Kevin going 4-1 and Brian at 4-0, accounted for eight of the team's wins and but one of its losses. They had appeared in 20 of 37 games and started 14.

In spring training of '34, Dizzy Dean brashly predicted that he and his brother might just win 40 games that season. He was wrong! They won 49, better than half of the Cardinal win total of 95.

In three days of the MASCAC postseason tournament MMA played five games spanning midday Friday and Sunday afternoon, an approximate 48 hours. In those five games Kevin started two and Brian relieved in two others as the Kwedors appeared in four of the five games totaling nearly 18 innings of work.

On three occasions during the season they threw both ends of doubleheaders. On April 10, MMA whipped Worcester State, 11-6 and 5-4. Brian was the winning pitcher in the opening game and Kevin in game two. Eight days later Brian opened with six strong innings for an 11-2 win over MCLA and Kevin went six shutout innings to win the second game. Then on April 27 they went back-to-back against Bridgewater State. Brian tossed the opener getting a no decision in an opening game 8-5 loss while Kevin authored a 6-3 win to gain the split in the second game.

The most obvious difference in the brothers on the mound is Kevin coming at a hitter from the left side while Kevin fires from the right. Still, Kevin contends they're "similar in a lot of ways" including both being products of the same pitching coach, Steve Almonte of Bourne, who Brian credits with "getting me to where I am today.” No disagreement from Kevin.

"Pitching has been the strength of our team,” said first-year MMA coach Mike Kelley. “(Kevin is) more refined and right now has a little more confidence than his younger brother. He can bring it when he has to and has good off-speed pitches.

“Brian is just coming into his own and we're hoping by the time he gets to be a senior he'll be as good or better than his brother.”

Kevin Kwedor played last summer with the hometown Marshfield Green Harbor Hawks of the Cranberry League and was the ace of that staff. It's at least possible the brother act from MMA in Bourne could continue this summer with the Green Hawks back on the Marshfield High field where both played their high school baseball with the Rams.

The Kwedors tend not to toot their own horns much, although Kevin has expressed some curiosity about what might be going through the other team's heads.

"When two over 6-4 pitchers come out, one lefty/one righty, I think it's great we can be successful that way,” said Kevin.

But, nowhere near as brash as Dizzy Dean's having purportedly once asked an opposing hitter: "Son? What kind of pitch would you like to miss?"