Craziest game of 20-18 sends Warriors to postseason

Wakefield beats Reading and Manchester-Essex to qualify for D2N tourney

Published in the June 4, 2018 edition.

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — Wakefield’s final two games of the season against Reading on Friday and Manchester-Essex on Sunday were polar opposites. In fact, they only had two things in common: gut-wrenching tension and Wakefield victories.

The Warriors beat Reading, 3-2 behind great pitching performances from senior Robert Shaw (5 IP, 5 K’s, 2 earned runs) and junior Gabe Sanders (2 IP, 0 earned runs).

Then they got a day off (not really for the graduating seniors) before an epic tug-of-war with the Hornets resulted in a 20-18 Wakefield victory, thanks in large part to captain Jake Nardone’s seven RBI’s (six in the 4th inning alone).

Put out Rockets

The significance of Friday’s game was clear from the outset. Wakefield had a focused, business-like demeanor throughout the seven innings as they turned to their ace who would need to fight through an injury to keep his team’s hopes alive. Robert Shaw gave Wakefield five innings, scattering six hits and striking out five while allowing just two runs against a dangerous Reading offense.

Gabe Sanders then came in and shut the door on the Rockets for a six-out save.

“It starts with the pitching,” said head coach Kevin Canty. “They kept us in it; that’s what we needed from the two of them. Shaw’s not 100 percent but he gave us everything he could for those five innings.”

The biggest hit of the day was a two-RBI single in the 6th which came off the bat of freshman Cal Tryder, batting in the two spot for the first time. That hit with the bases loaded gave Wakefield a 3-1 lead.

Wakefield tied the game at 1 in the 3rd, when Nardone (2-for-3) started a rally with a base hit. Captain Brendan Coughlin followed up with a single of his own and senior Tyler Pugsley walked to load the bases for Tommy Mottl (2-for-3) who hit a sacrifice fly to score Nardone.

Shaw hit his groove in the bottom of the 3rd with two strikeouts, one on a nasty off-speed pitch to retire the side.

The defense was solid all day and they helped Shaw get out of a 2nd and 3rd no out jam in the 5th inning after a nice look off from Sanders at short and a fielder’s choice from Nardone to Coughlin with the bases loaded later in the inning before another Shaw K ended the frame.

Wakefield set up Tryder’s big hit on a walk to Cole Kraus, a single from Erich Hickey (2-for-3) and an error on a bunt from Sixto Merced. The two-RBI knock from Tryder was all Wakefield needed.

“He’s got such a great swing,” said Canty of Tryder. “We saw it from day one in tryouts; even as a freshman you could see he just needed to get used to velocity and things like that. He played enough on JV to get enough swings in. Once we started having him in the lineup it’s been huge. You can’t ask a freshman in that situation to come through, you want a senior in that situation so for a freshman to come through there, that’s a big time play from him.”

Reading threatened in the 6th as Sanders inherited a 1st and 2nd no out situation. A walk loaded the bases. Robbie Fossett made a nice diving stop at third and stepped on the base to get a much needed out although the Rockets scored a run. Coughlin knocked down a wild pitch behind the plate and threw out a runner trying to advance to third on a very close play. A groundout ended the inning.

It wasn’t easy, but the Warriors made it clear that it would take a a herculean effort to keep them out of the postseason this year. As they shifted their focus to Sunday’s high-stakes matinee against the Hornets, Wakefield knew it would be a struggle to find pitching as their top two arms would certainly be fatigued.

“We’re going to figure out who’s going to pitch tomorrow morning. We have graduation tomorrow so we have to go real early for practice,” said Canty. “Every pitcher has got to be ready to take the ball and get me a couple outs; just fill in a role and hopefully we got seven innings in us to get a job done.”

Class of 20-18 with some graduation magic

Just hours following the graduation ceremony for the class of 2018, Wakefield hit Walsh Field against Manchester-Essex needing a win to make the playoffs. Following the lead of their seniors, the Warriors scored 20 runs on 14 hits and made the Hornets pay with plenty of tough at-bats. Manchester-Essex seemed to have a response for every big inning from Wakefield, but in the end, it was the Warriors who hung on for the win.

“In my 12 years of high school baseball I’ve seen nothing like that,” said Canty. “I’m just proud of each and every guy right now.”

It took five Wakefield pitchers to get the job done, but between freshman Chris Alden who got the start, Pat Roche, Ryan Donald, Shaw and Chris Coombs, who closed it out in the 7th on a strikeout with the bases loaded, the Warriors finally got the job done.

Perhaps with a dash of foreshadowing, Sanders left the yard on the very first Manchester-Essex pitch, earning himself the extremely unofficial nickname “Big Game Gabe.”

Wakefield’s 1-0 lead didn’t last long as the Hornets got the second lead change with three runs in the 2nd.

The third lead change came in the bottom of the 2nd when the Warriors put up four runs to take a 5-3 lead. Two walks following similar great at-bats from Pugsley and Mottl started the frame. Pugsley later scored on a wild pitch and Hickey drove in two runs with a base knock. Nardone had an RBI rip up the middle to make it 5-3.

The fourth lead change was in the next half inning when the Hornets came back with three more runs to make it 6-5.

Wakefield’s 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 3rd was a Bigfoot sighting when looking at the overall arch of the game. The Hornets appeared to take of advantage and control of that situation with a four-run top of the 4th to take a 10-5 lead.

It was a punch to the stomach, the affect of which had Wakefield fans wondering, was that a knock-out punch?

Jake Nardone’s response was swift and clear: Nope.

“Nards” racked up six RBI’s by himself in the bottom of the 4th as the Warriors crossed the plate an astronomical 11 times, to take a 16-10 lead. Not bad for a halfway score.

A Hickey walk, Sanders single, and Tryder sacrifice bunt set up Nardone’s first smash, that rolled all the way to the deepest part of Walsh field in right-center. Nardone wheeled all the way around, refusing to accept anything less than a three-run inside-the-parker to make it 10-8. Aside from getting his teammates going, that hit of the season seemed to assure fans at Walsh that the Warriors were winning this one.

“I just wanted to get something good to hit and drive in a few runs,” said Nardone. “It felt good off the bat and I was pumped up.”

The Warriors were far from done in the 4th. A walk, single and two hit batters resulted in another run, and senior Cole Kraus came through with a two-RBI double to account for the fifth and final lead change of the game as Wakefield went up 11-10. Later, a bases loaded situation and a walk to Tryder made it 12-10 and set up Nardone again, who responded with another bomb to center that cleared the bases for a three-RBI triple and a 15-10 lead.

“Jake’s at-bats were outstanding,” said Canty. “He’s been one of our best hitters all year and he comes through during the biggest moments; that’s why he’s a senior captain.”

Coughlin followed up with an RBI single of his own to make it 16-10.

Not to be outdone, the Hornets battled right back and scored five in the top of the 6th.

With just a one-run lead, the Warriors needed some insurance.

Wakefield quietly loaded the bases again as Pugsley, Mottl, Coombs and Kraus each added RBI’s to regain a five-run advantage.

Although the tension returned in the top of the 7th as Manchester-Essex scored two runs and loaded the now-flattened out bases, Coombs had a three-pitch strikeout to officially end what every player echoed as the wildest game they had ever played in.

“It was the craziest game I’ve ever been through,” said Nardone. “There were a few times where we could have given up but we kept coming back, just kept fighting. We got a great group of guys.”

“That’s what we’ve been looking for all year,” said Coughlin. “We haven’t gotten the bats going as much as we would like, but we came through today when we really needed to; that shows a lot of grit and a lot of determination.”

It’s that same type of grit and determination that the Warriors will need in the Div. 2 North tournament. Seeding will be announced Tuesday morning. Wakefield missed out on the postseason last year and is looking for their first tournament win in over 10 years.

“We’re not going to win another game giving up 18 runs so we need to come back, play quality defense, pitch, throw strikes and force the other team to make mistakes and we’ll be ok,” said Canty.

For Wakefield, it wasn’t exactly the most traditional way to get invited to a dance, but they’ll be ready for the opportunity.

“We’re in,” said Coughlin. “We can do some damage from here.”