Wachusett mounts win
Ousts Lexington with big 9th
With a Super Eight win in sight, Lexington saw Wachusett climb the mountain.
Trailing by three in the bottom of the ninth, Wachusett scored four times, capped off by a walkoff RBI single from Barry Walsh as the second-seeded Mountaineers knocked off the Minutemen, 8-7, in an elimination game yesterday at Brockton’s Campanelli Stadium.
“I was just looking for a fastball and happened to put the ball in play,” said Walsh. “We have got leadership all around that keeps us in games regardless of the score.”
The score was tied 4-4 in the eighth when the Minutemen (16-8) put together a walk, infield hit, error and two-run single from Jack Pawloski to take a 7-4 lead.
In the bottom half, the Mountaineers loaded the bases with nobody out. But Lexington reliever Nick Plansky got a strikeout and 6-4-3 double play to maintain the three-run cushion.
Plansky was not as fortunate an inning later. Down to its final three outs, Wachusett started the frame with a walk, single and hit by pitch. Two batters later, Artie Papandrea reached on catcher’s interference to force in a run and trim the deficit to 7-5. After the second hitbatsman of the inning cut Lexington’s lead to one, Francis Ferguson tied the game with a sacrifice fly to left.
That set the stage for Walsh, who grounded a 1-1 pitch through the right side for the win.
“Give our kids credit because I thought at first the eighth inning kind of sealed our fate,” said Wachusett coach Mark Peters. “But our kids have done it all year.”
Lexington jumped on top two batters into the game as Plansky belted a solo shot to right-center.
Minutemen starter Madison Dina (51⁄3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 7 K) kept the Wachusett lineup at bay throughout most of his outing, giving his team a chance to build a lead.
In the fifth, the Minutemen opened a 4-2 advantage as Pawloski doubled and Will Thomas drove him in with a single to right.
Wachusett’s offense, however, came back with single runs in the fifth and seventh.
Wachusett will play the loser of today’s Central Catholic vs. BC High tilt on Monday.
Alex Krylov broke a 1-1 tie with an RBI single in the ninth and Ryan McLaughlin followed with a two-run single as No. 11 Newton North (8-13) defeated No. 6 Cambridge, 4-1, in a Division 1 North first-round contest.
In a Div. 3 North preliminary-round game, Casey McLaren fired a one-hit shutout as No. 16 Newburyport (11-10) upended No. 17 Watertown, 3-0. Ken Hodge, Nick White and Kyle Therrien all drove in runs for the Clippers. ... Patrick Crowley struck out three and allowed two hits in six innings, while Kyle Hould added a three-run homer as No. 14 Dracut (11-10) defeated third-seeded Brighton, 7-0. Devin Lambert added two hits and two RBI for the Middies.
Troy Zipper drove in the game’s only run with a single in the sixth as No. 9 Salem (14-7) trimmed eighthseeded East Boston, 1-0, in a Div. 2 North first-round contest . ... John Schwartz went 2-for-3 with an RBI as No. 2 Whittier (17-2) edged Commonwealth Athletic Conference rival Shawsheen, 2-1.
Colin Fahey earned his sixth win of the season as top-seeded Apponequet
(19-2) advanced to the Div. 3 South semifinals with a 9-1 win over No. 16 Bishop
Stang . ... Alex Fratantoni pitched a complete-game five-hitter as No. 18 Falmouth (12-10) stunned second-seeded Hanover,
2-0.
Spencer Dowty went 3-for-3 with four RBI and Luke Robitaille added two hits, two RBI and three stolen bases, giving him 26 on the season, as No. 6 Seekonk (16-6) defeated 11th-seeded Norfolk Aggie, 7-0, in a Div. 4 South first-round contest. Adam Horowitz allowed two hits and struck out eight in five innings.
In a Div. 4 South preliminary-round contest, Jared Marini pitched two innings of scoreless relief and Mike Gervasi drove in three runs as No. 12 Archbishop Williams (12-9) defeated No. 21 Millis, 6-5, in 10 innings.
Aiden Newell’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning proved to be the difference as No. 13 St. Joseph’s (10-9) rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to knock off No. 4 Manchester-Essex, 3-2, in a Div. 4 North first-round contest. Sam Wright went 2-for-3 with an RBI and also earned the win . . . . Luke McClintock went the distance as No. 3 Hamilton-Wenham (15-5) cruised to a 16-0 win over No. 14 Lynn Tech.