THE SENIORS were honored before Wakefield’s 12-0 win over Northeast Metro Tech on Monday at Walsh Field. Pictured with their families from left to right are seniors Evan Simoneau, Tim Connolly, Liam Stromski, Mike Parent, Aidan Riley, Jeff DiFazio, Jack Berinato, Nathan Ickes, Luke Ickes, Nick Knowles, Zack Kent, Don Dubuque and Drew Riley. (Beth Boudreau Photography)
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — Senior Days aren’t meant to be stressful.
That’s why the Wakefield High baseball team kept theirs short and sweet, beating Northeast Metro Tech 12-0 in 5 innings on Monday at Walsh Field.
Any stress would have came after the Warriors celebrated 13 seniors and their families before the game. Not lost in all the smiles was the fact that Wakefield needed a win in order to really keep their postseason hopes alive.
With the victory, the local nine moved to 9-9 with two games remaining. They need one more win to automatically qualify for the state tournament.
“It’s a game that we expected to win and we did what we needed to do,” said Wakefield head coach Kevin Canty. “We know the caliber of team we are going to being playing next weekend and we just have to have a good week of preparation, get ready to go for those final two games and find a win.”
Up first on Saturday of the 11th James Geanoulis Memorial Tournament held at Peabody High is an Andover team currently ranked 8th in Div. 1. The Warriors (ranked 37th in D2), will then play either Peabody (47th in D1) or Pentucket (17th in D3) on Sunday night.
The first success for the home team on a beautiful Monday afternoon was a happy ceremony to congratulate all 13 seniors: captains Zack Kent and Nick Knowles; Jack Berinato, Tim Connolly, Jeff DiFazio, Don Dubuque, Luke Ickes, Nathan Ickes, Mike Parent, Aidan Riley, Drew Riley, Evan Simoneau and Liam Stromski.
The second triumph went to the winning pitcher Luke Ickes who scattered 3 hits, zero walks and zero runs while fanning 3 in 3 innings.
The third, and not to be outdone by his twin brother on Senior Day, was Nathan Ickes who powered the offense with two RBI knocks, both coming in Wakefield’s essentially game-ending, stress-free, 10-run 2nd inning. Nate Ickes cranked a triple to the deepest part of Walsh, the fence in right, which scored Nathan Delgado. Ickes then scrambled home on a wild pitch to give his team a 4-0 lead and came up later in the inning after the Warriors batted around to connect on another opposite field laser, this time an RBI single to make it 9-0.
Perhaps the most telling stat of the day was that all nine in Wakefield’s starting batting order collected a hit: Simoneau (1-for-1), junior Matt Elwell (1-for-3, RBI), Kent (2-for-3, RBI), Knowles (1-for-2, 2 RBI), sophomore Steven Woish (1-for-2), sophomore Tylor Roycroft (1-for-2), Delgado (1-for-1, RBI), Nathan Ickes (2-for-3, 2 RBI), Parent (1-for-2, RBI) and Dubuque (1-for-1, RBI).
The Warriors staked their ace to a 2-0 lead in the 1st. Simoneau led off with a walk and Elwell reached on an error, setting up Kent who chopped an RBI single through the left side of the infield. Elwell later tagged to third on a Woish fly out setting up runners at the corners with two outs. Canty, knowing his team needed to take this game, sent Kent to steal second and Elwell sprinted home once the throw from the catcher went down. Kent beat it to the bag and the Warriors went up 2-0.
Wakefield’s 10-run 2nd featured plenty of clutch at-bats. Knowles sent a 2-RBI base hit to the outfield for a 7-0 advantage and after Woish and Roycroft both singled to load the bags, Delgado hit a sac fly. Ickes, Parent, Dubuque and Elwell all followed with RBI singles to push the lead to 12-0.
Luke Ickes struck out two in his final inning of work and Parent had his first of two web gems of the day for the third out in the 3rd on a smooth backhand pick and throw to first. The second came in the 5th on the final out of the game, a bobbling catch on a line drive ending it.
Aidan Riley pitched the final two innings, picking up a strikeout and keeping the Golden Knights off the board.
Wakefield will count on multiple arms to be ready for the opposing Warriors of Andover on Saturday.
“We’ll go in with two or three guys ready to go, try to get (Andover) off-balance and as soon as they get it, move on to the next guy,” said Canty of the pitching game-plan for Saturday.
That would in all likelihood leave Luke Ickes for Sunday in case the Warriors are in a spot where they need a win in their final game to punch a ticket to the dance.
“Go into a tournament setting, go play well, see what you can do game one and know you have one of your best ready for game two and go from there,” said Canty. “Hopefully we can win the tournament.”
Wakefield vs. Andover is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Peabody High. Game two on Sunday will be back at Peabody at a time to be announced.
