THE WARRIORS improved to 3-1 on the season with a 5-0 win over WIlmington on Wednesday. Senior captain John Porter gave up no runs and only two hits in six innings to earn the win. (File Photo)
By TYM BROWN
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High baseball has continued to shine in the early goings of the season as they picked up their third win of the year at home against Wilmington on Wednesday.
John Porter led the charge for Wakefield in this win with an incredible performance on the mound. The senior captain efficiently worked his way through six innings and let in no runs to lead the Warriors to their first shutout of the year.
Porter gave up a single to start the game – one of only two hits he allowed. That runner was quickly erased as Tylor Roycroft took a grounder himself to first and tossed it to shortstop Matt Elwell who applied the tag at second to turn the rare 3-6 double play. A routine grounder to Elwell got the Warriors out of the half-inning with ease. Wakefield made no threat in the bottom of the 1st, only getting on base with a walk from Frankie Leone that was followed by a groundout and flyout to put the Warriors back on defense.
The second inning began with some flare as Elwell fully stretched to his left to catch a line drive in the gap between himself and 3rd base. Porter sat down the next two batters with a groundout and flyout to turn over the inning.
Wakefield made some solid contact in the second inning but still were unable to pick up a hit.
After another shutdown inning from Porter, the Warriors finally got to work offensively in the bottom of the third. Cam DePrizio started the inning with a soft flare into right field that got down for a hit, followed by a single by Elwell to keep the line moving. Leone dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line that forced the Wilmington pitcher to try to get the force out on the runner at third. The toss was late and Wakefield loaded the bases with Roycroft coming up to bat. The junior first baseman hit a chopping grounder perfectly through the middle of the field to drive in two runs. After a double steal from Leone and Roycroft, Jack Pennacchia put Wakefield up 3-0 on a sacrifice fly to right field.
Porter went back to work in the fourth, starting it out with a strikeout on a nasty curveball. Off-speed pitches were finding their place perfectly all game for him, fooling Wilmington hitters almost routinely in every at-bat. The Wildcats did make some contact later in the inning as their left fielder was able to take a ground ball back up the middle, but the inning shortly came to a close with a flyout to Steven Woish in center. Sophomore catcher Jayvith Chea got the Warriors started in the bottom of the fourth as he beat out a long throw from third base. Chea advanced two bases on a wild back-pick attempt from the Wildcat catcher that skyed into right field. Deprizio hit a sacrifice ground to short, scoring Chea easily and bringing the Wakefield lead to four.
Wilmington went down in just 10 pitches in the fifth, making it the third time they went down in order for the game. Wakefield seemed to be going down easy in the bottom of the inning with a groundout and strikeout to start off, but Woish got on base with a four-pitch walk and stole second to put himself in scoring position. Pennacchia drove a hard liner into center field that scored Woish easily, capping off the Wakefield scoring at five runs.
Porter finally began to crack in the sixth inning, hitting a batter and then walking two more with two outs. The senior right-hander stepped in to take on a risky bases-loaded situation against the cleanup hitter in the Wilmington lineup. After delivering strike one, he made a spinning pickoff move to second base where Leone applied the tag on an unsuspecting Wildcat baserunner to get out of the inning.
Wakefield had an unproductive sixth inning at the plate but still sat with a comfortable 5-0 lead going into the final frame. After a shaky sixth from Porter, the Warriors turned to Jack Stromski to close out the game. The junior righty made quick work of Wilmington, taking down three of the four batters he faced to cap off the best pitching performance by the Warriors so far this season.The placement of pitches by both Porter and Stromski made it tough for the Wildcats to make solid contact. Even when contact was made, the Warrior fielders were perfect, making no errors on the day.
Wakefield moved to 4-1 on the season when the bats broke out in a 13-3 road victory over rival Melrose on Friday afternoon at Morelli Field. A full story will appear at a later date. The Warriors will host Burlington (2-3) on Friday, 10 a.m. at Walsh Field.