ATTLEBORO, Mass. - North Attleboro senior Liam O’Donnell improved to 3-0 on the season and kept the Rocketeers’ perfect start to the season going by throwing a complete game, two-hitter in a 3-1 victory over rival Bishop Feehan (6-2) on Friday afternoon at Beach Field.
“He mixed it pretty well, I thought,” North Attleboro coach Paul Tobin. “He did a good job of getting ahead of hitters and the one inning they scored a run -- he walked the first guy. It’s the old coach’s maxim; you can’t let the first guy get on.”
The Rocketeers (7-0) jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning on Feehan senior Sam McQuaid, with Tobin calling it “a key to the game” that North scored early before the Shamrocks ace settled in.
An error allowed leadoff hitter Jake Lang to reach and Dylon Grzenda launched a pitch to deep left center only to see it get run down by Feehan leftfielder Chris Forte. After a pop up for the second out, cleanup hitter Chris Bredberg got all of a McQuaid fastball and deposited it over the fence in left.
Feehan nearly rallied in the bottom of the inning. A leadoff walk to Forte was followed by a sacrifice bunt to move the runner into scoring position. After a flyball for the second out, Alex Perry had an infield single to the right side and stole second. Teddy O’Hair seemed to have the game tied as hit a liner over the head of Lang, but the North second baseman made a leaping grab to preserve the lead.
Tobin said, “It was a huge play. In fact, when it left the bat I kicked the dirt because I thought it was over his head and he snared it.”
He added, “You got to have those plays to win games against quality teams, no doubt.”
After the opening inning, both pitchers began to settle into their starts. McQuaid would finish with six strikeouts and would scatter four hits over the next six innings (only two of the hits reaching the outfield).
In the top of the fifth he would run into trouble with a Matt Silva lead-off singlefollowed by a bunt base hit by Mark Ventola. Lang would hit into a 4-6-3 double play moving Silva to third and then Grzenda, who had already hit McQuaid hard twice, grounded and infield single to short that Perry could not get to in time.
“I’ve seen Sam since his freshman year and I thought he has really developed into a tremendous pitcher and I thought he threw an excellent game today,” said Tobin. “He held us down pretty well.”
“[It was] a tremendous game by Dylon,” said Tobin. “He’s got great hands; he’s got a great attitude; [and] the kid wants to play. He’s got a tremendous work ethic and attitude.”
O’Donnell pounded the strike zone and used his defense to retire 10 Shamrocks in a row before walking Jake D’Ercole to lead-off the bottom of the fifth. That would cost him as two wild pitches and an RBI groundout by catcher James Julio plated Feehan’s first run.
In the sixth, Forte reached base for the second time on an infield grounder and, with one out, Richardson drew a walk to put two runners on with just one out. Perry drilled a line drive but it was right at Grzenda and he stepped on second for the third out to end the inning.
O’Donnell walked pinch hitter Luke Arieta with two outs in the seventh, but Andrew Horowitz popped up in foul ground to Hedberg at first who dance around it before laying out to make a spectacular diving grab to end the game.
North will put its perfect record on the line again on Monday with the visit of another big rival, Attleboro, to Community Field. Last year, the two teams played a 10-inning classic in the final week of the regular season.
Josh Perry can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.