Medfield bashes Fenwick

Hits 3 HRs in a row

MEDFIELD — The Bishop Fenwick baseball team shut out its last four opponents in Division 3 North on its way to the state semifinals. None of those lineups bore any resemblance to the one Medfield sent out on Wednesday, however.

The South champion Warriors bashed four home runs in the first two innings, including back-to-back-toback shots in the bottom of the first, and never looked back in a 13-5 victory that earned them the program’s first-ever berth in a state title game.

“I honestly think that we have the best one through four (hitters) in the state,” said Medfield senior Sam Palmer, who had one of the four homers and pitched four solid innings. ”It’s tough to put up with.”

Medfield (20-1) awaits its opponent as the other semifinal between AMSA and Taconic was postponed by rain.

Medfield built a 9-0 lead through three innings, with the first six runs all coming via the long ball. After Palmer drew a leadoff walk to begin the game, the fireworks began.

Jack Goodman rifled a ball to the opposite field that just cleared the fence in right for a quick 2-0 lead. Sam Kornet followed with a blast to dead center and Ben Leonard made it three-of-a-kind with a nodoubter to right, and it was 4-0 before an out was recorded.

“All year we have been trying to get out in front of people and we were able to do that today,” said Medfield coach Dave Worthley. “I thought their kid had good stuff, our guys were just ready to swing the bat. And back-toback-back home runs, you don’t see that in high school very often.”

That ended Crusaders starter Anthony Marino’s day, one of five pitchers used by Fenwick. Palmer went deep with a runner on in the second, giving the first four Medfield batters in the order a homer, and the Warriors added three more runs in the third.

Still, Fenwick provided a little drama.

The Crusaders (13-12) got three runs back in the fourth off a tiring Palmerda, two on a Scott Emerson ground rule double, and could’ve plated two more in the fifth with two outs with pinch hitter Dan Reddick, who crushed a ball down the right-field line that nearly made it 9-6.

But it was just foul. and reliever Matt Donahue got him to pop out on the next pitch.

Medfield put the game away with three in the bottom of the fifth, reaching double figures in runs for the fourth time in five postseason games, and Brett Nickerson managed to finish it off in the seventh before the ominous skies opened.

“We are only trying to win the last one,” said Worthley. “It’s fun winning all these other ones, but our focus from the first day of spring workouts was to get to our last game and win that final game.”