WAKEFIELD — As with many of their contests this season, the Wakefield Warrior baseball players got their bats going early and continued the offensive momentum throughout their most recent game, resulting in another big win against a division rival. In the end, Wakefield bested Wilmington by a score of 9-4 on Friday afternoon at Walsh Field.
Starting pitcher Marc Gagne was gifted with an early cushion in the first when Charles Gagne and Aidan Bligh hit a pair of singles, Jack Pennacchia advanced the runners on a grounder, and Dylan McDermott belted a single to left that brought Gagne and Bligh home. McDermott made it to third and ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly hit by Ethan Faulkner for an early, 3-0 Wakefield lead.
Gagne racked up five strikeouts in the first two innings, then Wilmington got on the board in the top of the third with a run following a walk, two groundouts, and a single.
The bottom of the third produced more runs for the Warriors. McDermott got his second hit of the game and stole second, then reached third on a wild pitch. Senior captain Jayvith Chea smacked a single, scoring McDermott. Nicolo Labieniec then slammed a double which got Chea all around the bases, and the score was 5-1 Wakefield.
After a 1-2-3 fourth inning, Gagne got into trouble in the top off the fifth when he gave up two singles, two walks, and a sacrifice fly that produced two more runs for Wilmington. The score was then 5-3, a bit too close for comfort.
In the bottom of the fifth, senior captain Cam DePrizio kicked off another flurry of runs for the Warriors that padded the lead. DePrizio reached on an error, stole second, and tagged up to reach third on a deep fly ball hit by McDermott. Faulkner then singled, scoring DePrizio and giving the Warriors a 6-3 advantage. Faulkner went on to steal second base, advance on a grounder, and score on a passed ball. Labieniec kept the inning going with a single, then reached third when Nik Dhingra hit his own single. When Dhingra stole second, Labieniec scurried home for the 8th Warrior run.
Jack Pennacchia replaced Gagne on the mound in the 6th inning. A few snafus on the field led to another run for the Wildcats. Pennacchia himself got that run right back for the Warriors, however, in the bottom of the 6th when he blasted a solo home run over the right field fence, making the score 9-4.
Pennacchia finished the game in the top of the 7th, giving the Warriors their 6th win of the season.
“The team has stepped it up after a tough loss to Burlington,” said senior captain Cam DePrizio about the team’s recent success. “The intensity and mindset that we have been bringing to practice has shown on the field during the past few games. Our bats have been hot due to lots of hard work on and off the field.”
The Warriors (6-2) have their work cut out for them this week to keep their current three-game winning streak going. They host Winchester (7-4) today at 4:15, travel to Reading (6-2) on Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. and host Lexington (4-6) on Friday at 4:30 p.m.