Red wins all-Wakefield matchup, 11-6 in Northeast League finale

ROHIT DHULAPATI celebrates his 3rd inning RBI base hit, which gave Wakefield Red the lead for good. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Red and White teams, two of the nine squads in this summer’s 14U Div. 2 of the Northeast Baseball League, met in what was the regular season finale for both teams last night at Walsh Field.

Wakefield White, the home team in this one, took a 4-1 lead after one but Red roared back, racking up three runs in the 3^rd and five in the 4^th to reclaim the advantage at 10-4.

Red starter Taylor Miller settled in after that 1^st, shutting out his opponents in the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th.

TAYLOR MILLER racked up 5 strikeouts in 4 innings last night for Wakefield Red. After Wakefield White put up 4 in the 1st, Miller shut them out for the next three innings while Red took the lead. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

Wakefield White made a comeback bid in the 5^th, finally chasing Miller after an RBI double by Mason Lowe made it 11-5, but Red brought on Joe Shea with runners at second and third and no out and he got back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout to keep his team in command.

Shea would go on to close it out as the game ended in six as opposed to the typical seven innings with daylight running out. In the end, Wakefield Red improved to 4-7 while White fell to 4-6-1.

Red’s Max Viselli (2-for-2, RBI, BB) who reached base in all three at-bats along with teammate James Brogna (1-for-1, 2BB, RBI) started the game with a leadoff single and later came around to score on a two-out liner by Shea (2-for-3, RBI).

White’s 4-run 1^st started with Mike Taranto (3-for-4) and Quinn Bonner (3-for-4, RBI), who accounted for six of the team’s 11 hits. Bonner brought home Taranto on a base hit and an error after an infield single by Zach Richardson later scored Bonner. A two-out RBI knock by Anthony Cresta made it 3-1 and another RBI single by William Herzog made it 4-1 before Miller got his 2^nd of 5 strikeouts to get out of it.

Red responded by getting one in the 2^nd on an RBI single by James Brogna scoring Teddy Moore. Lowe would end up with a strikeout to get his team out of it with a 4-2 lead in tact.

After Miller cruised in the bottom of the 2^nd, Red took the lead for good in the 3^rd. Viselli led off with a walk, Shea singled with one out and Connor McPhail connected on double in the gap which brought home two to tie it at 4-4. Rohit Dhulapati then came up with a clutch RBI single to give his team a 5-4 lead.

Miller had another quick inning in the 3^rd and Wakefield Red broke it open in the top of the 4^th.

The inning was started with back-to-back base hits by Colin Campbell (2-for-3, RBI) and Austin Bryant (2-for-3). Walks to Brogna and Matthew Mortimer brought home a run and later a pickoff attempt at third led to two more runs before Viselli’s RBI infield single made it 9-4. A two-out RBI base hit from Ben Blackstone pushed it to 10-4.

Viselli made one of the plays of the day at shortstop on a sliding stop to his left and flip to second to end the bottom of the 4^th.

Richardson matched that in the next half inning making an incredible leaping grab at second base to rob McPhail of a hit.

Red still went on to start a two-out rally when Dhulapati walked and Campbell crushed one over the outfield to bring him around for an 11-4 lead.

Taranto and Bonner both singled to start the bottom of the 5^th and Lowe’s RBI double was clutch but it led to Shea who took it from there on the mound to help Wakefield Red pick up the clutch win.

It was the second win of the summer season for Red over White as they won 13-4 on June 27.

The win for Red likely means that both teams will miss out on the postseason as only the top five teams make the cut although that remains to be seen as the rest of the division closes out their regular seasons this weekend.