The Green Wave baseball team exploded for 10 runs in the 6th inning to defeat Advanced Math & Science Academy Charter School 15-2 and advance to the quarterfinals of the Division 4 MIAA State Tournament.
Abington sent 15 batters to the plate in the penultimate inning to blow wide open what had started as a competitive game.
“We’d been hitting the ball hard all day, they were just playing us really deep,” Head Coach Steve Perakslis said about the 6th inning explosion. “We could have scored a lot more runs early in the game but they made some good defensive plays.”
Junior shortstop Henry Rogers led the efficient Green Wave attack with 5 RBIs, including a two-run double in the first inning that tied the game, and a two-run single in the 6th that put the game away for good.
Abington will next play on Sunday at 3:30 p.m., against Amesbury at Memorial Field. It’s the third year in a row that Abington has made the state tournament quarterfinals.
Green Wave junior pitcher Steve Maddon, who has pitched in the tournament each of the past three years, started a bit wild, walking the first two batters he faced. He got behind the third batter he faced but seemed to benefit from a quick mound visit from Perakslis.
“I just told him to relax,” said Perakslis. “I think he was just pumped up a little bit and he really wanted to pitch well and get the win for the team.”
Both those base runners came around to score, providing the Eagles with an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. However, those would be the only runs AMSA would score as Maddon settled down and put up a clean sheet the rest of the way. He gave up just four hits in five innings, while striking out five.
The Eagles had trouble putting solid wood on Maddon’s fastball; their hardest hit ball of the game was a very deep fly in the 2nd inning to Memorial Field’s vast left field. Freshman outfielder Ryan Solomini looked more like a wide receiver running a post route while tracking down the flyball to retire the side.
“Having Maddon and (fellow starter) Jon Sellon with playoff experience is really a calming factor for our pitching staff,” said Perakslis.
Abington meanwhile used aggressive base running and timely hitting to build a lead in the middle innings. With the game knotted at 2 in the bottom of the third, Mason Nash, running for catcher Spencer Merrick, stole both second and third, and then scored on a blooper by Rogers to shallow center. Rogers would advance from first to third on a single by Maddon and then score on a wild pitch to give Abington a 4-2 lead.
Perakslis said he noticed that the Eagles starting pitcher didn’t throw over to first to hold runners, and so the Green Wave felt free to steal on the pitcher’s first move.
Leadoff hitter Jon Sellon walked in the fourth, stole second and third, and then scored on a delayed steal when Mason Nash stole his third base of the game.
Merrick, the team’s two-year captain and the South Shore League MVP, could be heard encouraging his teammates in the bottom of the sixth to add more runs. The team certainly responded. The first eight batters of the inning, starting with pinch hitter Connor O’Donnell, each reached base and scored. Merrick and Rogers both have two-run hits to lead the charge.
Merrick reached base all five times he batted, with four walks and a single. He also threw out a runner in the third inning.
Sellon, AJ Nash, Rogers, and Solimini each had multiple hits during the game.
You must be logged in to post a comment.