Unbeaten English (20-0) rallies to win BCL title
WEST ROXBURY >> English’s perfect regular season is complete.
After falling behind 3-0 early, the Blue & Blue rallied for three runs in the fifth before Jordani Marcano came through with the go-ahead RBI single in the bottom of the sixth as English captured the Boston City League title with a 4-3 win over defending city champion East Boston on Saturday morning.
English enters the state tournament at 200, joining Westford as the only teams to enter the baseball postseason with an unblemished record.
“The buy in from the players has been tremendous,” English coach Christian Ortiz said. “They’re there on time and present and ready to get better every single day. Our coaches are here every day and ready to commit. We want to win a state title so today was a good primer championship game.”
After being shut out for the first four innings and staring down a 3-0 deficit, the English bats came alive in the fifth. Justin Peguero roped a two-run double and then Dave Castillo hit a single back through the box to tie the game at three. Blue & Blue starter Nanfer Duarte, meanwhile, found his groove, finishing the afternoon with 13 strikeouts over 5.2 innings while scattering just four hits.
In the home half of the sixth the Blue & Blue jumped in front for the first time as a throwing error put Sebastian Garcia in scoring position and Marcano then knocked him home with a line shot RBI double to center. Castillo struck out the side in the seventh to seal the win.
“We were trailing and struggling and I am observing the body language and we were still ready to go,” Ortiz said. “I knew we were going to battle until the end because of the positivity they had even when we were down. I knew we were going to fight back.”
The Blue & Blue handled East Boston (119) with ease during the regular season, coming away with victories in 13-3 and 17-1 fashion. Saturday told a different story as in the top of the second Jared Pacitta roped an RBI triple and then scored on a wild pitch to give the Jets a 2-0 advantage. An inning later the Jets tacked on a run courtesy of an RBI double by Daniel Colon Hermoso.