Published in the May 10, 2018 edition.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
BURLINGTON — The Wakefield High baseball team traveled to Burlington yesterday looking for a big response to their recent three-game losing streak against the Middlesex League’s Liberty Division.
They got it, and not just from one player.
After a solid overall performance that was gritty at times, the Warriors took a 6-1 lead through four innings and held on for a massive 8-3 league win over the Red Devils. Seven different Warriors got hits in this one.
“This was really important as far as how we were going to respond after having three tough games,” said Wakefield head coach Kevin Canty. “This was the most important game of the season at this point. If we had a similar effort as the last three games, it could have been ugly so I’m glad we responded the way we did.”
Wakefield jumped all over Burlington in the 3rd during what could easily be described as a season-altering frame, not because the stakes were the highest, but because they executed the gameplan to perfection and proved to themselves that if they are the aggressors, they can be a really tough team to beat.
Erich Hickey started the inning of with a one-out base knock and Tyler Pugsley would later start a two-out rally with a single that sent Hickey to third and a delayed steal that put runners at second and third for Jake Nardone, who looped a two-RBI single down the right field line to give Wakefield a 2-1 lead. After Brendan Coughlin walked, Tommy Mottl ripped an RBI single through the hole. Then the action really started as Mottl broke for second with Robbie Fossett at the plate. Burlington read the trap and got the ball over to third base, but Coughlin already had a step on the defense and committed to the plate, rumbling home and beating the tag to give the Warriors a 4-1 lead That’s Wakefield baseball.
“That’s what we want to do, force the other team to make mistakes,” said Canty. “When you get your chances to get guys in motion and force the other team to make plays, that’s what we try to do and it worked out today.”
Coughlin was involved in another play at the plate when in the bottom of the 3rd, Burlington sent a runner home on a hit to Hickey in right. After a relay through Nardone at first, Coughlin held his ground (and the ball) through a huge collision in which the ump was seen with a fist in the air after the dust cleared. It was one of many moments that got the Wakefield bench going.
Pat Roche got the start for the Warriors. The lefty did his job, pitching into the 4th inning and giving Wakefield a chance to win, allowing three runs and striking out two. Jordan Fauci was the bridge the Warriors needed as he got them out of trouble in the 4th and was replaced in the 5th by Gabe Sanders who shut the door on Burlington, striking out four and allowing just one hit in 2.2 innings.
“Roche and Sanders are two of our key pitchers going forward,” said Canty. “Roche kept us in the game, he did exactly what he needed to do. Fauci came in, got his job done and got us to Gabe and when Gabe’s on he’s pretty tough to hit.”
Wakefield picked up two more runs in the top of the 4th. Chris Coombs singled and Cole Kraus got a lot of high fives from the Wakefield bench after a sacrifice bunt, which is a sign that a team is fully engaged and sticking together. Hickey roped an RBI double next. After Sanders reached on a base hit, Pugsley hit an infield single that scored Hickey for Wakefield’s 6th run.
Coughlin really got the bench going when he smashed his second home run of the season in the top of the 7th to dead centerfield. It was a pretty awesome way to more or less finish off the 8-3 victory.
Wakefield will host Watertown on Friday and head to Melrose on Saturday at 2:30 to start a stretch of five Freedom Division games in the next sevens days. The objective of this week is pretty clear.
“We have five games now that I think we have a good shot at,” said Canty. “So that’s the plan: win them all.”