By DAN PAWLOWSKI
LYNN — The Wakefield High baseball team’s wild ride through the Div. 3 state tournament came to an end on Wednesday at Fraser Field in Lynn with a 6-0 loss to North Reading in the Final Four.
An even matchup between two quality teams, the game was scoreless until the Hornets put two runs up in the 3rd. North Reading used small ball and timely hits to add one in the 4th, two more in the 5th and another in the 6th, while starter Ethan Quan (7IP, 6H, 0R, 3BB, 2K) went the distance, getting huge outs whenever the Warriors were threatening.
“We had opportunities we just didn’t come through today and that’s baseball sometimes,” said Wakefield head coach Kevin Canty. “We had the bases loaded with one out in the 1st inning. We’ve gotten those hits before and today it just didn’t happen.
“You tip your cap to them. Their pitcher did a great job of keeping us off balance even in counts when we thought we could do damage.”
To Canty’s point, and perhaps adding to why the end result was so gut-wrenching for Wakefield, the Warriors had a chance to change the script early on when they loaded the bases in that 1st with two singles by senior Andrew Nemec and junior Dylan McDermott sandwiched around a walk to junior Jack Pennacchia. Quan kept his composure and ended the threat with a fly out and a strike out.
A big inning, or even one run for Wakefield would have built momentum for an impressive contingent of Warrior fans at Fraser Field and perhaps altered game plans. Instead, it was a sign of things to come, as Quan and the No. 9 Hornets would frustrate No. 13 Wakefield for another six innings to punch their ticket to the Div. 3 state championship game where they will meet No. 11 Arlington Catholic at Polar Park in Worcester today.
In the bottom of the 1st, McDermott threw out North Reading’s leadoff runner who was trying to steal third after swiping second and Warrior starter, senior Marc Gagne (2.1 IP, 4H, 2ER, 2BB, 3K) got a strikeout to end the inning.
The frustrations for Wakefield’s offense continued in the 2nd after junior Nik Dhingra was robbed of a leadoff base hit on a diving play at third by Ethan Blanchette. Gagne later singled with one out and a pinch runner was moved to second with a bunt but was later picked off to end the inning.
Gagne worked around a one-out base hit in the 2nd with two strikeouts to shut it down, igniting a “Let’s go Marky” chant from a well-represented Red Sea student section.
Nemec crushed his second hit of the day, a one-out double to left-center in the top of the 3rd but Pennacchia (three walks, two intentional) was put on first by the Hornet coaches who never gave Wakefield’s power bat a chance to break open the game. As quickly as he had in the 1st, Quan ended the threat with a groundout and a pop up.
With some tension and exasperation building for the Warriors, the Hornets capitalized in the bottom of the 3rd with a 2-RBI single by Christian Lava after a one-out walk and base hit. Pennacchia entered the game, made a play on a bunt attempt and struck a Hornet out with a nasty off speed pitch.
After North Reading manufactured another run in the 4th, the Warriors were officially up against it trailing 3-0 in the 5th. Senior Charles Gagne connected on a one-out single but Pennacchia was intentionally walked again with two outs and Quan continued to come through in the clutch, getting out of it with a grounder.
North Reading added insurance with two more in the bottom of the 5th and the Warriors could never get a handle on a game that slipped away too many times.
“Getting Wakefield baseball to this point — it hurts, it hurts a lot because we know we can get to the next level and now we have to wait 365 days to try again,” said Canty, who was especially grateful for Wakefield’s six seniors: Nemec, Charles and Marc Gagne, Cam DePrizio, Nicolo Labieniec and Jayvith Chea. “The seniors who led us here, all of them did such a great job,” said Canty, holding back emotions of equal parts pride, gratitude and grief. “They put their hearts into it and just competed every day.”
The Warriors didn’t get the result they were dreaming about in the semifinals, but that won’t diminish a truly remarkable postseason run. After beating No. 20 Greater New Bedford 10-0 at home in the first round, the road Warriors took out previously undefeated No. 4 Shawsheen Tech in the Round of 16, erasing a 4-0 deficit to snap the Rams’ 23-game home winning streak with a thrilling 5-4 win. They kept it going in the quarterfinals, knocking out No. 5 Bishop Stang down in North Dartmouth, 4-0.
It was a run that Wakefield baseball fans will always remember.
“It’s a great building block to where we want to get to,” said Canty. “At the end of the day, I just told them I’m super proud of them. To see what they’ve done and how many people have come out to support them, it’s huge.”