The Westwood American Legion Post 320 baseball team faced off against the Medfield Beckwith Post 110 last night and the teams waged a pitching war that lasted all the way until the sixth inning, when the lid was blown completely off.
The starting pitchers, John Sheehan and Phil Rossi, each kicked off the game by allowing only one run in five innings but Post 320 got to the Medfield bullpen for seven runs and Sheehan got out of a seventh-inning jam for the second straight night as Westwood held on for an 8-7 win.
The win was Westwood’s fourth in its last five games and improves Post 320 to 4-7-1 on the season.
Westwood’s Sheehan pitched a complete seven-inning game, with seven strikeouts and only one earned run in the first five innings. The run came off of a sacrifice fly ball from Medfield’s Cam Riera that drove in Jake Kramer in the top of the first. Westwood manager, Dick Paster, indicated that Sheehan’s pitches have been clocked in the low 90’s.
“It was definitely a good outing tonight,” said Sheehan after the game, “But (Medfield) hit the ball well. They were on it the whole game. As soon as my velocity came down a little, they started to really hit it.”
For Medfield, now, 5-10, Walpole native Rossi managed to pitch himself out of a number of tough situations. In the top of the second inning, with one out and men on second and third, Rossi struck out two consecutive batters to end the frame.
Then in the third, Rossi got himself into the same situation, with two men in scoring position and two outs. On full count, he tossed a curve ball that got him the out, and out of trouble. And then again, in the fourth inning, with no outs and a man on second, Rossi found a way to get three outs before one got home.
With one earned run and 84 pitches after five innings, Rossi stepped off the mound.
“It was the most (Rossi has) thrown so far,” said Medfield manager Stan Winston. “My philosophy is that everybody needs to be pitching. That way no one’s going to throw a gazillion pitches and get hurt.”
Westwood picked up an easy run in the fifth off of a walk that put Ryan Walsh on base. Walsh went on to third with a stolen base followed by a wild pitch, and then came home on an error to tie the game at 1-1.
Then, the hitting started in the sixth inning off reliever Kevin Gledhill. A single from Greg D’Agincourt followed by a single from Greg Homer set the table for Chris Nethercote, who muscled one over the left field fence for a three-run home run that put Westwood ahead 4-1.
Medfield picked up its bats and responded in the bottom of the frame. Late to the game, Gerry Howley stepped up to bat just in time for a two-run double that bounced off the deepest center field fence and brought Medfield back to within 4-3.
Still in the sixth, with Howley on second, Ryan Tkowski destroyed a ball over the right field fence and into the infield of the next baseball diamond to pick up two more and the go ahead run and Medfield led 5-4.
In the top of the seventh with Chris Warren now on the mound, Westwood managed to load the bases with two walks and a bunt that lead to an error. After Homer lined out to the second baseman for the first out of the inning, Nethercote came up huge again dropping one in short of the right fielder for two more RBI and Westwood regained the lead at 6-5.
“(Nethercote) broke out tonight,” said Paster. “He hadn’t been hitting very well recently, but he showed up for the big hit at the right time.”
A single from Ryan Walsh loaded the bases again for Westwood. Next batter T.J. Manning, hit a deep single that drove in the eventual winning runs, increasing the Post 320 edge to 8-5.
Medfield did not give up in the bottom of the seventh, but were not able to overcome the Westwood lead. With two outs, Kramer singled to first and then stole his way to third on the next two pitches. Ellard got to first on a walk and then it was two men on, two outs to Medfield batter Riera, who hit a ground ball that could have ended the game but was misplayed into two runs to slice it to 8-7. But Medfield could not complete the comeback as Sheehan fanned Howley to end the game.
