Update after press time: Melrose defeats Wilmington 5-1 (April 18)
Published April 18, 2025
Melrose shuts out Burlington 10-0; tops rival Wakefield
By CORY THOMAS
MELROSE—Spring baseball in New England is not for the faint of heart. The recent weather has not been fit for man nor beast, nor baseball! Despite the trying weather, Melrose High School baseball competed in four Middlesex League affairs this past week. Two of them included dominating wins over ML Freedom rivals Burlington and Wakefield, which sees Melrose capping off a winning week and 3-2 in the Middlesex league.
On April 11, rain forced Melrose to host rival Wakefield at Pine Banks rather than at home at Morelli Field. Melrose sent senior captain Jaiden Aquino to the mound. The talented, versatile player had been limited to DH the last two seasons so being healthy for his senior year pleases Melrose’s 6th year head coach Scott Searles. “We wanted to ease Aquino into pitching this year so he could get a feel of being on the mound again, and so he could trust that his arm is strong,” says the coach.
Aquino saw action in relief in Belmont on opening day, but the righty would get a big test in his first start of the year against Wakefield. He acknowledged the excitement to pitch again. “I haven’t been able to pitch in almost two years, so being able to get back to pitching is almost like a dream come true,” says Aquino.
Wakefield jumped out to an early lead 1-0 on an infield hit and a misplayed ball. Aquino was undeterred and kept Wakefield hitters off-balance, mixing his fastball and off-speed pitches deftly through four innings, until Melrose got their offense going. In the home half of the 4th inning, seniors Dylan Harrington and Brendan Doyle each had hits to start a rally and were in scoring position for junior Cadel McKeown, who laced a single to left field to score Harrington and Doyle and Melrose took their first lead of the day at 2-1.
McKeown, a strong hitter for Melrose since freshman year, said of his two-RBI hit, “Getting that hit in that situation felt great, I just wanted to do my part and keep the inning going, keep the positive energy going”.
Junior Brian Capidolupo, who has had a hot start to the year at the plate, stayed hot and blasted a double to deep left that scored McKeown from 1st base to increase the Melrose lead to 3-1. Junior Jack Casey added an RBI in the 4th, as he showed strong baseball IQ, hitting the ball to the right side with a runner on 3rd with less than two outs to get an important run across for Melrose, who led 4-1 after four innings.
Aquino held Wakefield in the top of the 5th and & 6th and Melrose added a run to extend their lead to 5-1 heading in to the 7th inning. Aquino came out to close the door on Wakefield, finishing a complete game gem, allowing only 2 hits, walking 2, allowing 0 earned runs, only 1 run, and 7 strikeouts. Aquino was proud of his efforts following the game. “The last time I threw a complete game, I was 13 years old. So, being able to do it today for Melrose in my senior year, was a very special moment for me”. Added Coach Searles, “To see him back out there pitching like he’s capable of, not only puts a smile on my face, but its great for the team as well. It was an important win for us”.
Burlington shutout was icing on the cake for Melrose
Melrose hosted Burlington at Morelli Field in a Middlesex League Freedom Division match-up on Tuesday, April 15 and enjoyed a 10-0 shutout.
Junior pitcher Brian Capidolupo got the start for Melrose and he looked sharp early. Melrose took a quick lead thanks to leadoff hitter Michael Thomas, who belted a double to right center. When asked if the warmer weather helped kick start the Melrose offense, Thomas replied, ” It’s always nice to be out there in nice weather, but we have adapted to hitting in colder conditions. The key to our offensive output is the team energy. Our team is loud and into the game, every pitch and every inning.” That certainly was the case in the first inning against the Red Devils, where hitting was contagious as Jaiden Aquino, Brendan Doyle, Cadel McKeown, Brian Capidolupo and Reid Heidebrecht all added hits to hand an early 3-0 lead to the strong righty pitcher Capidolupo for Melrose. Added Dylan Harrington, “We’ve been playing solid, and I’ve liked the energy we have. We have been loud all 7 innings, and it fires the guys up.”
Capidolupo kept the visitors’ bats quiet through the first four innings and was aided by strong defense. In the 4th, a Burlington threat was turned away thanks to a nifty 4-6-3 double play started by freshman second baseman James Tillis, who’s a great addition, according to teammate Mike Thomas. “James has been playing great. He looks mature in the infield and has made some big plays for us.”
Melrose first baseman Heidebrecht scored a run in the 4th inning for Melrose to increase their lead to 4-0. Melrose’s strong pitching from Capidolupo and overall hitting through the 5th inning continued. Michael Thomas got things going with his second hit of the day. Dylan Harrington added an RBI hit, and hot-hitting catcher Brendan Doyle added an RBI double. Capidolupo smacked an RBI double of his own to extend the lead to 9-0 Melrose. Senior Brendan Doyle spoke of the teams depth and balance. “This years’ team has the most depth we have seen in the past few years.” He also spoke highly of pitchers Aquino and Capidolupo. “Cap and Jaiden have been lights out.”
In previous efforts, Melrose fell in a 6-5 heartbreaker to Winchester, with another strong pitching performance from Junior Brian Capodilupo. After Winchester took a 4-0 lead Melrose battled back in the 5th behind Brendan Doyle’s RBI to close the score to 4-3. Melrose would go on to take the lead in the top of the 7th behind another hit by the Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball commit, Brendan Doyle. Hits by juniors Cadel McKeown and Brian Capidolupo put Melrose ahead 5-4, but only briefly before Winchester tied it in the bottom of the 7th. The game went to extra innings, where Winchester won it in the bottom of the 8th, 6-5.
Melrose also hosted Reading in their fourth game of the year. Senior Dylan Harrington pitched well against a strong Reading line-up, but Melrose had trouble mounting an offensive attack until the 7th when they rallied behind the bats Michael Thomas and Dylan Harrington. Jaiden Aquino and Brian Capidolupo each had RBI hits to keep Melrose close, but it was not enough to defeat Reading, who won by a final score of 7-4.
With a busy week of league play behind them, Melrose has evened their record at 3-3 (3-2 Middlesex League). A trip to Wilmington this Thursday is on deck (post deadline) and they host Peabody on Monday at 4:30 p.m.