Varsity Townies hold off Wilmington 6-5 for 5th win of the summer

CAM JAENA went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and also picked up the save in Wakefield’s 6-5 win over Wilmington last night at Walsh Field. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Townies of the Northeast Baseball League’s Varsity South Division improved to 5-1 on the season with a 6-5 win over Wilmington last night at Walsh Field. 

Wakefield put up two in the 3^rd and four in the 4^th to take a 6-0 lead but the Wildcats stormed back with four in the 6^th inning. They scratched across an unearned run in the 7^th and had the tying run at third with two outs but reliever Cam Jaena slammed the door shut with a strikeout to seal the win. 

Townies starter Charles Gagne was lights out in this one, keeping the visitors off the board in his 5 innings. The lefty only surrendered 2 hits and 3 walks while fanning 5. 

CHARLES GAGNE shut out Wilmington in 5 innings, allowing just 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5 last night at Walsh Field. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

A balanced attack saw the Townies rack up 10 hits from seven different batters. Wakefield got 2 hits each from Marc Gagne, Dylan McDermott and Jaena who also added 2 RBI. Marty Nugai went 1-for-1 with 2 RBI and a walk and Charles Gagne helped his own cause with an RBI base hit in Wakefield’s four-run 4^th. 

It was a quiet start to the game as the teams settled into Walsh. Gagne’s two-strikeout 1^st set the tone, overmatching the Wildcats from the beginning with a great mix of pitches. He ran into some trouble in the 3^rd, the inning in which he allowed his only two hits of the game, but worked out of trouble by getting a groundout to end it. 

Wakefield got on the board in their half of the 3^rd. Nugai led off with a walk and Marc Gagne followed with a single. After Sam Seidman walked to load the bags, Jaena came through with a 2-RBI rip to right and a 2-0 Townie lead.

Gagne sat the Wildcats down in order in the top of the 4^th and Wakefield made their move in the bottom half.

MARTY NUGAI came up clutch with a 2-RBI base hit in the 4th inning of Wakefield’s win over Wilmington while, as he put it, batting “3rd…in the 3rd part of the lineup.” (Alicen Encarnacao Racca File Photo)

McDermott reached on a throwing error with one out, getting to second base. Charles Gagne eventually came up with two down but came through with a base hit to make it 3-0 and proceeded to steal second and third. John Fitzgerald walked and stole second base, setting the table for Nugai who placed a blooper neatly into shallow center to plate two more. Marc Gagne’s second base hit of the game moved Nugai to 3^rd and Charlie Lemieux pushed the led to 6-0 with an RBI single. 

The “Marty Special” steal and score designed play fell flat this time for the Townies with runners at the corners to end the inning but it’s a play of genius that takes time to master. The Townies will iron out the details and keep it up their sleeves for a bigger moment.

Wilmington had 4 hits in their four-run 6^th and the Townies helped them out with an unearned run as well. 

With the pressure on in the 7^th, Wakefield made two errors, which allowed the visitors to cut the deficit to 6-5. Jaena got a groundout and pop-up to set up the final showdown, a high heater with a full count resulting in the clutch strikeout. 

The Townies actually stayed perfect this summer with the win. Their only loss came by a forfeit as they didn’t have enough players. Such is life with summer ball. 

Even still, Wakefield is ahead of North Reading (4-2) and Wilmington (1-7) in the South Division and first overall in the Varsity, which also includes Dracut (3-2), Westford (3-3) and Lowell (2-4) in the North Division. 

The Townies have five games remaining in the regular season including tonight, 6 p.m. at Alumni Field in Lowell. They return to Walsh on July 18, 6 p.m. against Westford.