Noviello finishes wild ride
BROCKTON — Jake Noviello made sure Franklin’s Cinderella run had a storybook ending.
With Franklin and Central Catholic tied 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Noviello came in and struck out three straight hitters to leave the goahead run in scoring position.
After Evan Wendell gave Franklin a one-run lead in the top of the ninth with a suicide squeeze, Noviello returned to the mound and closed it out as the No. 7 Panthers took home the Super Eight championship with a 3-2 win over No. 4 Central Catholic last night at Campanelli Stadium.
Franklin (21-5) finished a perfect 4-0 in Super Eight play to capture its first baseball state championship since 1986.
“Jake is a tremendous competitor,” said Franklin coach Zach Brown. “We really wanted this opportunity to be here. From there, we just let it all hang out. We were not going to play afraid, we wanted to be aggressive, and it worked out.”
With the rain pouring down in the eighth, Central Catholic threatened as a walk and Noah Lucier double put two in scoring position with nobody out. Franklin lifted starter Bryan Woelfel (7 IP, ER, 6 H, 7 Ks) for Noviello, who was up to the task.
Now with a chance to jump in front, Steve Lutazzi led off Franklin’s ninth with a single to left field. After an errant pickoff attempt allowed Lutazzi to get all the way to third, Wendell laid down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze to score Lutazzi.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Raiders’ Dominic Keegan led off with a walk and Michael Pierro grounded a two-out single to right to put the winning run on base.
Noviello, however, stood tall and generated a strikeout with his curveball to give Franklin the Super Eight championship.
“That’s the best possible ending I can think of,” said Noviello. “Standing out there, I reflected on my whole high school career. I just wanted to do the best for my guys behind me who gave me their best all year.”
Franklin jumped on top in the first inning courtesy of a two-run home run from Jake Macchi.
Woelfel put up three zeroes to begin his start, but the Raiders got to him for two in the fourth as Sean Thompson hit an RBI double and Joe Sanchez provided an RBI groundout to knot the game at 2-2.