Post 7-2 triumph to even ICL record at 7-7-1
Published in the July 9, 2015 edition
THIRD BASEMAN Mike Sorrentino (left) had two hits for the Wakefield Merchants in their 7-2 victory over the Somerville Thunder last night at Walsh Field. (Donna Larsson File Photo)
By DAN MARGARITA
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Merchants picked up a win last night, defeating the Somerville Thunder, 7-2, in an Intercity League game played at Walsh Field.
It was the Merchants’ second win in a row as they defeated the two cellar dwellers in their past two outings. Wakefield handed the Melrose a 5-2 defeat on July 2.
“We’re 7-7-1 I believe and we’re right in the middle of the pack. But with eight teams, if you reel off three or four in a row you creep up fast,” said Merchants manager Dave Ellegood.
Wakefield picked up four runs in the second inning, which would prove to be the deciding margin in the game.
Joe Barry led off with a single down the left field line but was forced at second when B.J. Neil reached on a fielder’s choice. After Neil stole second, he was able to advance to third on a wild pitch. Jason Ferlan grounded out to second but that scored Neil to make it 1-0 in Wakefield’s favor.
Louis Tarantino and Scott Searles followed with a pair of singles and then Bobby Losanno tripled to dead center to bring in Tarantino and Searles to make it 3-0. Mike Sorrentino reached on an error that scored Losanno. But a ground ball ended the inning with Wakefield leading 4-0.
The Merchants picked up another run in the third inning. Neil hit a one out double to left-center. Then on a ground out to third, Neil headed from second to third on Somerville’s first baseman James McConville’s throw to third to try and erase him. But McConville’s throw went wide, allowing Neil to score.
Merchants pitcher Darren Bisso escaped trouble in the third inning when an error and consecutive walks loaded the bases with two outs but was able to strike out McConville to avoid any damage.
“Darren pitched out of a couple of jams and he made a couple of mistakes and got squeezed a little bit. But he pitched well for us and got the win,” noted Ellegood.
Somerville (0-14-1) was able to break through for two runs in the fifth inning. Jake Cintolo led off with a ground-rule double and moved to third on a ground out to first. Devan Jones singled in Cintolo and then went to second on a passed ball. After a fly out to right, Adam Johnson singled to left to score Jones to make it 5-2. But that was all the runs Somerville mustered for the night.
Wakefield managed to get a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Searles led off with a walk and went to second on a wild pitch. Losanno followed with a ground-rule double that brought in Searles. Sorrentino reached on an error and then Mike Manoogian walked to load the bases. Clay Yianacoplous singled in Sorrentino to make it 7-2 but a double play ball ended the inning.
“We were shorthanded tonight but Darren (Bisso) came in and gave us a good start, which we wanted. I just thought let’s get Jarrod (Marchesi) in there to close out the game. We don’t want to give Somerville any kind of chance to get back in the game. I mean they haven’t won a game all year but we need two points and try to creep up a little bit in the standings. We haven’t played in a week, we were kind of rusty,” said Ellegood.
The Merchants next game is tomorrow night at 8 p.m. when they face the Lexington Blue Sox at Lexington High School.
