ORLEANS – In one of the best-pitched high school games seen this spring, a third baseman became the hero.
Facing the blazing heat of Milton High reliever Sam Jacobsak and hamstrung with two strikes, Nauset Regional High’s hot corner man Sam Majewski came through when his team needed
Nauset High’s Sam Majewski was the hero of the day with his two-strike walk-off basehit to beat Milton in the 10th inning at Eldredge Park Saturday night.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
him most Saturday night at Eldredge Park. Fighting for his team’s postseason life, Majewski stroked a two-strike Jacobsak fastball to rightfield for a walk-off, 3-2, 10th inning win in the first round of the MIAA Division 2 South Sectionals and was subsequently mobbed at midfield by all.
The win puts #3 seed Nauset at 17-4 on the season and headed for the MIAA Div. 2 South Sectional Quarterfinals on Monday )June 8) against #6 seed Dighton-Rehoboth (16-5). The game will be played at Nauset Regional High School in North Eastham at 4:00 pm.
Majewski’s RBI-basehit made a winner out of Warrior southpaw reliever Paul Prue who came in to relieve starter Chris Holcomb in the top of the sixth with no outs and a 2-1 lead. Prue ended up throwing five innings of brilliant relief as he allowed one run (attributed to Holcomb), two hits, struck out four and walked just one.
Holcomb came out in the sixth inning after he walked Milton leadoff batter Lloyd Hill on four pitches and then gave up an absolutely crushed double off the left-centerfield wall by Brandon “Moose” Musto that narrowed the Warriors’ lead to just 2-1.
Kevin Conway was sent in to pinch-run for Musto and first baseman Dennis McAuliffe then sacrificed the pinch-runner over to third base for the first out of the inning. Scott Cummings then hit an off-the-end-of-the-bat, spinning cue shot into the dewy infield grass and Prue was forced to come off the mound and attempt to make a play at first but the throw was wide and Cummings collided at first with Nauset second baseman Willy Boyd. Conway was then sent home to tie it while Boyd picked up the loose ball and fired to second base to nab Cummings for the second out.
Nauset’s Noah Grevelis attempts to score on Willy Boyd’s triple in the first inning but got nailed at the plate. Later, Grevelis would scorethe game-winning run.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
Holcomb turned in five innings of shutout pitching up until Milton’s two-run sixth. He struck out four batters, walked four, hit one batsman and allowed four hits.
Milton starting pitcher Jake Walker, also a lefty, went four innings and struck out six batters. He allowed two runs (one unearned) on five hits and two walks. Jacobsak went 5 1/3 innings and took the season-ending loss for the visiting #14 seed Milton squad (11-10).
Both Holcomb and Walker got out of serious early jams with bases loaded – Walker in the bottom of the second and Holcomb in the top of the fourth inning. But by the fourth inning, Holcomb was enjoying a 2-0 lead. Holcomb finished the game with 93 pitches thrown.
Nauset got on the scoreboard in the first inning when Willy Boyd tripled and came home on a Majewski ground out that made it 1-0. The host Warriors made it 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning when Majewski hit a one-out single and then a pair of infield errors allowed him to eventually come home.
In the top of the fifth inning it appeared Holcomb might be tiring as he went to a full count on any Milton hitter for the first time in the game did it twice in a row – the first resulting in a strikeout and the second one ending in a walk. Still, the hard-throwing lefty got himself out of trouble with no damage.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Milton’s Jacobsak, a righty, started the frame off in relief of Walker and was impressive as he struck out two and retired the side cleanly. He duplicated that same effort in the sixth and retired the side in succession in the seventh with another strikeout to his credit. Jacobsak struck out two more in the eighth inning and retired the side and struck out one more in the ninth. All totaled, Jacobsak had eigtht strikeouts in
Paul Prue gave Nauset five innings of superlative relief and notched the win.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
his 5 1/3 innings of relief work and he walked none until the 10th and final inning.
Imploring his Warriors to “just be patient,” Nauset head coach Lou Elia added, “We’ve been here before.”
Jacobsak walked Grevelis to lead off the 10th inning and Grevelis stole both second and third. He also walked Boyd before Majewski laced his game-winner. Grevelis went 2-4 with three stolen bases and scored a run while Majewski went 2-5 with two RBI. Mike Doherty had Nauset’s other RBI on a fielder’s choice in the third inning.
Milton finished with four hits on the day and Nauset had six.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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