Sit in 3rd place with two games left
Published in the August 5, 2019 edition
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Merchants kept their impressive momentum going over the past week.
After shutting out the Andre Chiefs 1-0 on July 28, the Merchants beat the Malden Maddogs on Tuesday, then again on Friday with a combined score of 22-5.
Wakefield then had a double-header yesterday at Walsh. They lost to Alibrandis 5-2 in the first game before beating the Melrose Americans 3-0 in the second game.
The Merchants had 13 hits in a 13-1 win over Malden on July 30 at Maplewood Park.
Chris Butler led the team with three hits and three RBI’s. He was just a home run away from hitting for the cycle.
Scott Searles had two hits and two RBI’s and Steve Rizzuot hit a solo shot.
Nine Merchants had at least one hit and nine had at least one RBI.
Jon Luders had a two-RBI base hit.
Dillon Koster and Mike Sorrentino both had two hits and an RBI. Bryant Dana, Chris Capo and Joe Barry each chipped in an RBI.
Colin Jaena picked up the win, keeping the ICL’s second highest scoring team in check all night. He scattered five hits and surrendered just one run while striking out four in six innings.
The Wakefield bats stayed hot during their rematch on Friday collecting 11 hits in a 9-4 victory back at Maplewood.
Tyler Lyne led the way with three hits including a double, three runs scored and two RBI’s.
Koster had a two-RBI base hit. Luders had two hits and an RBI, Sorrentino had two hits and Ryan Collins connected on an RBI double.
Mike Andrews picked up his second win for the Merchants allowing two earned runs on six hits in six innings while striking out four.
Wakefield had a tough time getting anything going against Alibrandis ace Ryan Corriveau last night. They did collect five hits during Corriveau’s five innings but could only muster one run.
Greg Johnson (7 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) pitched a fine game for the Merchants with really only one mistake. Stanley Demartinis launched a grand slam during a second inning in which Alibrandis scored all five of their runs.
Johnson shut the visitors down throughout the next five frames but Wakefield couldn’t get much else going after scoring one in the top of the first. Lyne led the way again with two hits including a triple and an RBI.
Rizzuto also picked up two hits.
Wakefield responded quickly in the second game of the day.
Joe Maguire grabbed his sixth win of the season with a rare six-inning complete game as the game ran out of daylight. Maguire kept pace with Corriveau as both now have six victories. Maguire brought his earned run average down to an incredible 1.11. There are three qualified pitchers in the league with better ERA’s this season. Maguire (44 IP, 43 K) has pitched 18 more innings than the next closest in that group.
The only other pitchers with similar usages and production are Corriveau (44.2 IP, 1.57 ERA, 50 K), Somerville’s Paul Covelle (32.2 IP, 1.50 ERA, 43 K) and Zack Kirby of the Andre Chiefs (54 IP, 1.69 ERA, 85 K).
The Merchants plated all three of their runs in the third inning. Maguire, as he has done so often this season, took care of the rest.
Bryant Dana walked to get on base, Luders got on with a base hit and Koster drove home Dana. After an error scored another run, Lyne hit an RBI single. Lyne took the team hit lead from former Merrimack teammate Bobby Losanno with that one. Lyne now has 22 hits, tied for ninth in the ICL while Losanno is tied for 10th with 21. Losanno played both games yesterday after missing the last four.
The Merchants are firmly in third place with 28 points. They are three points ahead of the Reading Bulldogs and three points back of Alibrandis.
With a spot in the playoffs clinched the Merchants have two options in their final two games: rest some players to prepare for the postseason or go after second place to get a bye in the first round.
The Merchants play Reading tomorrow night, 6 p.m. at Walsh Field and wrap up the regular season on Wednesday night against Malden also 6 p.m. at Walsh.
