BC High’s Vasil strong in return
SCHOOLS
Yesterday afternoon could not have gone much better for the BC High baseball team.
Making his first start in nearly a month due to muscle fatigue, Eagles ace Mike Vasil threw four shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out six, while Sean O’Connell went 2-for-3 with an RBI as the Eagles defeated St. John’s (Shrewsbury), 4-2, at Monan Park in Dorchester.
Vasil, a potential first rounder in this year’s MLB Draft, was lifted after four innings due to a prearranged pitch count that was set at 50.
“I felt great,” said Vasil. “I felt better than any other time out there this year. There was one batter, the third batter of the game that I walked, that I would like to have back, but other than that I can’t complain.”
According to a handful of scouts in attendance, Vasil sat mostly around 93 miles per hour with his fastball, occasionally touching 96. He threw 50 pitches, 36 of which were strikes.
“I thought it was all around a great baseball game and I thought both teams played very well,” said BC High coach Norm Walsh. “What tells me Mike is back is the pitch count. To throw just 50 pitches in four innings is his style.”
For the first four innings, Pioneers starter Mike Bean matched Vasil pitch-for-pitch, allowing just one hit. In the bottom of the fifth, however, BC High’s offense broke through.
John MacDonald drilled a triple to right-center, and Luke Murphy followed up with a triple of his own to grab a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Marty McCormack laced an RBI single to left center to make it 2-0 Eagles.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles (10-5) doubled their lead. Vasil, Dave Driscoll and O’Connell connected for three consecutive doubles to make it 4-0.
Those two runs proved crucial as St. John’s got to reliever O’Connell to begin the seventh inning. Sean Burke hit a long double to center and Jake Hamel followed up by launching a 1-0 pitch for a two-run homer to trim the BC High lead to 4-2.
Moments later, Pioneers six-hitter Tom Moschella reached on an error to bring the tying run to the plate. But O’Connell battled back and struck out the next hitter before inducing a 5-4-3 double play to close out the win.
In other baseball action yesterday:
In Hockomock League play, Robbie Jareft hit a two-run triple in the seventh to lift King Philip (6-10) to a 6-5 victory over Oliver Ames.
In the Boston City League, senior Alex Troncoso struck out 10 over six shutout innings as South Boston (73) blanked Brighton, 13-0.
Doug Brown had three hits, three RBI and two runs scored as North Quincy upended New Mission, 11-8, in nonleague action.
Softball
In a Patriot League tilt, Bri Belfort fanned eight to propel Silver Lake (14-2) to a 9-0 shutout of Hingham.
Lily Eldridge and Paige Wodarski each hit a home run as Danvers (113) took down nonleague opponent Central Catholic, 7-1.
Girls lacrosse
In nonleague action, Camryn Gonsalves buried seven goals, carrying Southeastern to a 17-7 drubbing of Coyle & Cassidy.