Set to host Greater New Bedford in first round Monday
PEABODY — Over Memorial Day weekend, the Wakefield High baseball team was busy shutting down Division 1 teams and winning the Geanuoulis/Linehan Memorial Baseball Tournament for the first time in history. This tournament, which rounds out Wakefield’s regular season each year, raises scholarship money for Peabody High School baseball players and is dedicated to two beloved former coaches who gave much of their time to the Peabody system.
Four teams play each year in the tournament, and this year’s participants were from Andover, Peabody, Danvers and Wakefield. Wakefield drew the toughest initial straw, having to play Andover in the first round, a team that finished the regular season ranked top 10 in the state. Andover recently drew the No. 6 seed in the Div. 1 state tournament. The Warriors beat Andover 1-0 in a thrilling extra innings walk-off, while Peabody beat Danvers in an extra innings walk-off as well in the first round. Peabody proved to be no match for Wakefield in the final game (10-0), and the Warriors were proud to bring home the tournament trophy this year.
Patrick Maloney got the start for the first-round Andover game, and it was a pitcher’s duel down to the end. The sophomore southpaw was terrific, striking out seven tough Andover hitters and allowing only five hits in 7.2 innings. Fielding was sharp all afternoon for the Warriors as well, the players coming through with no errors when needed against a challenging team.
The one chance the Golden Warriors had came in the top of the seventh inning, when one of the Andover batters managed an infield hit and ended up advancing to third. Maloney gave up his only walk in this inning, so there were runners at the corners, but Maloney bore down and struck out the next batter to squash the opportunity.
Andover’s pitcher, Chris Jaillet, was equally impressive throughout the game. Planning to pitch at Amherst College next year, Jaillet was firing strikes and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Nik Dhingra finally got to the talented lefty with a single to right field that gave Wakefield a chance when Charles Gagne was intentionally walked, and senior captain Andrew Nemec was hit by a pitch. The Warriors were not able to capitalize with the bases loaded, however, and the duel continued.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Warriors had another golden opportunity with the bases loaded once again when Dylan McDermott singled, senior captain Cam DePrizio bunted McDermott to second, Bligh was intentionally walked, and Ethan Faulkner drew a walk of his own. Again, the runners were stranded, though, and the game went into extra innings.
Maloney came out for the top of the 8th, as he had been economical with his pitches throughout the game. One of the Golden Warriors did get on base with a single and advanced on a dribbler in front of the plate that was expertly handled by McDermott to get the batter out. When there were two outs, Jackson McGourty was brought in to close out the inning, and he got the next Andover hitter to pop up to Dhingra in right.
The Warrior faithful became excited when Charles Gagne started off the bottom of the 8th inning against a new Andover pitcher, reaching first safely. Nemec bunted successfully to advance Gagne to second, and Jack Pennacchia was intentionally walked. The second out of the inning was made, and hope started to fade.
DePrizio became the hero, however, when he launched a giant hit over the Andover centerfielder’s head, bringing Gagne around to score and start the walk-off celebration.
The Warriors were ready the next day to take on Peabody, another solid Division 1 team, recently earning the No. 34 seed in the D1 tourney. The Tanners went 10 innings against first round opponent, Danvers, the day before and used several of their pitchers before sealing their victory.
Wakefield got on the board against Peabody with five runs in the third inning. Dhingra and Marc Gagne started it off with hits just past the Tanner infielders, and Nicolo Labieniec reached on a bunt when the throw went to third, and everyone was safe. Charles Gagne hit a grounder that scored Dhingra. Pennacchia then belted a ball down the right field line that scored Faulkner, who was running for Marc Gagne. Labieniec also scored on Pennacchia’s hit. Pennacchia stole second base and advanced to third when McDermott beat out a grounder. DePrizio drove Pennacchia home with a beautiful hit to the outfield. Bligh’s bloop hit then scored McDermott, and the Warriors were up 5-0.
The Warriors added insurance runs in the fifth inning when things started to deteriorate for the depleted Tanner pitchers. McDermott singled, DePrizio was hit by a pitch, then four walks in a row resulted in three more runs for the Warriors. In the sixth inning, McDermott smacked his third hit of the day, stole two bases, and scampered home on a wild pitch, making the score 9-0 Wakefield.
The seventh inning went much like the fifth for the Tanner pitchers, who walked another four Warriors in a row, accounting for another run, and then Lucas Deleidi hit a single, scoring Faulkner and upping the Wakefield advantage to 11-0.
Starter Marc Gagne struck out eight Peabody batters and had a no-hitter going into the fifth inning, when a player beat out a ball to shortstop that was labeled an infield hit. A single in the 6th inning against Gagne accounted for the other Tanner hit in the game.
Gagne had a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh, and the Warriors sealed the win and their first ever Memorial Day tournament victory. There was a trophy presentation following the win, and Marc Gagne received a plaque as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Excited about the tournament win, coach Kevin Canty commented on the key factors that led to the big victories.
“Both starting pitchers, Marc and Pat, dominated the strike zone and were extremely effective, not only with their fastball, but with their off-speed stuff as well. Both guys used two or three pitches to keep Andover and Peabody off balance.
“As a team offensively, when we got opportunities to produce runs late in the Andover game with Cam’s clutch hit as well as playing a little bit of small ball against Peabody, we were able to put pressure on the other team and found ways to get runs across the plate.”
Wakefield (15-5) earned the No. 13 seed in Div. 3 and will host a home playoff game against No. 20 Greater New Bedford on Monday at 4 p.m. In the last 36 innings of play (five games), the Warriors have not let in a single run, and they will hope to continue this streak into the playoffs.