TAUNTON, Mass. – A half-inning after surrendering a two run lead, Walpole rebounded with a two runs in the top of the seventh inning to capture a 4-2 win and eliminate Taunton from the postseason.
“It was a great game,” Taunton head coach Jeff Sylvia said. “In the tournament, you can’t make mistakes and we made a couple mistakes and they took advantage of each one. We preached that all week, and credit goes to Walpole, they did a great job.”
Andrew Moore delivered what turned out to be the game-winning hit in the top of the seventh inning, a triple to right center field that scored Drew Naismith from first base. Jack Levanchy drove in Moore from third with a single up the middle.
“We left a curveball up,” Sylvia said. “[Moore] did his job. A lot of the balls that they struck well were belt high or higher. Against good teams, you can’t make mistakes, and they took advantage of every mistake we made.”
Kevin Quinn opened the scoring for Walpole in the fourth inning, a two-run home run that rode the wind over the left center field fence.
“The wind helped, but that ball was gone off the bat,” Sylvia said. “[Quinn] definitely put a charge into that. All those big hits, the kids got good wood on them. I thought the kids squared those up pretty well.”
Taunton then came back with a two run sixth inning to tie the score at the time. With two outs in the inning, Dylan Poillucci and Sam Moor put together a pair of doubles for the first run. Jared Jorge then beat out an infield single with a slide into first base to put runners on the corners, and Moor scored the second Tiger run on a throwing error.
“Coming back, the resiliency down 2-0 in the sixth when the kid was dealing and we got two up there with two outs, that was huge for us,” Sylvia said. “I’m proud of them.”
That was all the Taunton offense could muster off of Walpole starter James Newman, though. He pitched six and a third innings, allowing just one earned run on seven hits while striking out five.
Newman worked out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the second inning when the Rebel defense doubled up a runner on a fly out. In the fourth inning, Taunton had runners on first and second and one out before Walpole turned another inning-ending double play.
“Their pitcher pitched great, they got some really big hits and we never really made the adjustment until that sixth inning,” Sylvia said. “They were fundamentally sound and took advantage of the situation. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We played well and we just ran into a tough team.”
Tigers’ starter Luke Figueira also pitched well, tossing all seven innings while scattering five hits and striking out eight.
Taunton had not played since May 29 while Walpole defeated Barnstable 2-0 in the Preliminary Round on June 4. Still, Sylvia did not attribute the loss to the extended break.
“No excuses,” Sylvia said. “We prepared every day. We went through everything we needed to do, but we ran into a buzz saw. Defensively, I thought we played very well. I thought Luke pitched very well. We’ve had an excellent season.”
Taunton finishes the season 14-8 overall while Walpole advances to the D1 South Semifinal and will face #10 Norwood.