NORWELL – The never-say-die Sandwich Blue Knights baseball team gained some late-season momentum Thursday evening with a clutch, 6-5 victory on the road over the Norwell Clippers and in so doing also kept their postseason hopes alive.
Sandwich High’s Jack DeCoste not only provided stellar relief but his key hit in the 7th spelled the difference in a huge road win for the Blue Knights yesterday at Norwell.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
The Blue Knights, now 9-9 on the season with one game left, rode the strong pitching of Riley Sorenson and the rock-solid relief effort of Jack DeCoste as Decoste struck out the last Norwell batter he faced with the tying and winning runs on second and third base.
Sorenson went five innings and came out of the game with a 5-3 lead. He struck out 11 batters, walked three and scattered four hits before giving way to DeCoste. DeCoste allowed two runs and struck out three as the Blue Knights’ held on tightly to remain in the postseason hunt.
Sandwich faces Barnstable High on Saturday (May 30) at 11:00 am. Both teams need to win to go to the MIAA South Sectionals. Barnstable fell to Dartmouth (see below) Thursday afternoon on the road and is 9-10 on the season.
The Blue Knights put up five second-inning runs for Sorenson to work with, on a combination of two walks and three hits, including a huge, three-run double by Vinnie Petracca. It was DeCoste who singled to lead off the top of the seventh inning and (Ferguson pinch ran) whose insurance run on a Pat Tierney single spelled the difference in the end.
Matt Dahl went 2-4 for the Blue Knights as did Tierney and DeCoste went 2-3 (he started in rightfield).
St. John Paul II Goes to 17-1 with Second Straight Win over Bishop Stang
The St. John Paul II baseball team defeated Bishop Stang for the second time in as many days Thursday afternoon at McKeon Park, 14-9, in a non-league contest.
The Cape & Island League champions rode the relief pitching of Jonny Warden on the mound as he struck out four. Warden came on in relief of Joe Oriola who had taken over mound duties for starter Kevin Marsh earlier in this combined 26-hit affair.
The Lions (18-1), who wrap up the regular season Saturday at Nantucket, hammered out 16 hits and staged a seven-run first inning and fortunately tacked on another six in the bottom of the fifth.
St. John Paul II’s Jonny Warden provided relief and solid hitting to help the Lions roll to a 14-9 win over Bishop Stang.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
Bobby Higgins, Blake Waters, Matt Santos, Warden, Jake Good and Cole Campbell each had two hits for the hosts. Higgins (2-4, 2 RBI), Santos (2-4, 3 RBI), Good (2-3, 2 RBI) and Campbell (2 RBI) provided the most substantial firepower at the plate for the Lions.
Host Dartmouth Indians Avenge Early Season Loss to Barnstable Red Raiders
The Dartmouth High School baseball team played the role of spoiler Thursday afternoon as it dashed the visiting Barnstable nine’s hopes of tying for an Old Colony League title with an 8-2 victory. Barnstable had earlier in the season defeated the Indians in an extra-inning affair and then split the season’s series with Bridgewater-Raynham. The Trojans, however, defeated Dartmouth both times it faced the Indians this season and with Barnstable’s loss laid an outright claim to this season’s Old Colony League title.
Dartmouth took an early, 1-0 lead over the Red Raiders but the guests tied it 1-1 in the top of the second when Alex Mercado walked, stole second and came home on a CJ McCabe basehit. With bases loaded and tied 1-1, the Red Raiders’ hope to break things open fizzled and the Dartmouth held on to get out of a bases-loaded jam once again in the sixth.
The Indians plated one run each in the second and fourth innings and then broke it open in the fifth inning with five runs.
Andrew Atsalis had a first-inning double for the Red Raiders but all totaled the guests could muster only six hits on the day.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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