MANSFIELD, Mass. – The Mansfield High baseball team certainly proved why they were merited with the number one seed in the D1 South quarterfinal on Monday afternoon against eighth-seeded Wellesley.
Hosting their first playoff game in the past six years, the Hornets seniors responded each time to numerous Raider comeback efforts in an 8-5 victory – advancing Mansfield to the semifinals to face off against Hockomock rival Franklin.
“That’s a group of senior leaders right there that doesn’t let anyone fall behind,” Mansfield head coach Joe Breen said. “When we struggle, those nine guys come in and pick us up whether it’s on the bench or on the field or at the plate. Those guys are our leaders and let us do our thing.”
After Wellesley rallied to tie the game 5-5 in the top of the fifth, the Hornets answered right back with the game’s differentiating three runs in the bottom half.
Leading off the bottom of the fifth, senior Jared Collins drew a walk and then senior Eddie Krikorian came on to pinch run for Collins. A single to right off junior Tyrone Pascual’s bat advanced Krikorian to third and senior Matt Carafa followed with a fielder’s choice, plating Krikorian which turned out to be the game winning run. Senior Branden Nevius added Mansfield’s insurance runs as the second baseman doubled off the left field wall to drive in Carafa and then got around the tag at the plate on a single from Mike Boen singled to make it 8-5.
“We knew that Wellesley was a great team coming in and we watched them play against Catholic Memorial on Thursday on our off day. It just speaks volumes of our team – every time that Wellesley gave us a fight, we came back and responded,” Breen said. “It was certainly the difference in today’s game, how we responded to the adversity and the pressure that Wellesley gave us.”
After allowing Wellesley to strike for four runs to tie the score in the top of the fifth, Breen knew that his ace Evan Kershaw wanted to redeem himself by the throwing the final two innings to finish a complete game. Kershaw did just that as the senior threw scoreless sixth and seventh innings to let the Hornets advance. Kershaw allowed all five runs while giving up nine hits and striking out four Raider batters.
“We have a pretty darn good closer but I knew with the look on Kershaw’s face after the fifth inning that he wanted the ball again and wanted to close out the game,” Breen said. “He certainly earned the right to do so. He’s our guy, he’s been doing it all season and he’s a senior. Again, every start that he has had this year we have had the chance to win and that was again obviously true today.”
Wellesley attacked Kershaw for four runs on five hits in the top of the fifth to come back and even the score. Jack Tishman started things for the Raiders with a leadoff single then pinch hitter Ghiho Ghim drilled a double to right center putting runners at second and third. Jack Dolan drove in the second and third runs on a double to left. Peter Stabnick singled to center plating Dolan and the Wellesley was all of a sudden down just one run. One batter later, the Raiders saw themselves tie the score when Brad Marchetti delivered the fifth run on Wellesley’s third double of the inning. Kershaw settled down shortly and recorded three outs consecutively to get out of the inning.
The Hornets showed no signs of rust after not playing in the past ten days as they scored four of their eight runs in the first three innings and banged out 11 hits. Boen led Mansfield’s offense with three hits while scoring twice while Haggis went 2-3 with two runs scored, Will Kelleher had two hits and an RBI and run, and Mike Arnold also had two hits while driving in two.
“It certainly makes you a little nervous never knowing what you will get out there,” Breen said of not playing in ten days. “We knew we were going to be fresh and we had a great day of practice yesterday, I was confident that these guys would be fired up and ready to rock.”
In the bottom of the first, cleanup hitter Mike Arnold drove in Boen and Haggis for the first two runs on a deep double to the left center gap.
After Wellesley struck through with their first run in the top of the third, Mansfield answered right back with another two runs in the bottom frame. Haggis led off with a walk and Kelleher followed drilled a lining triple to the centerfield corner creating a two run lead at 3-1. After Arnold was hit by a pitch, Pascual was induced into a 4-6 fielders’ choice bringing in Kelleher for the fourth run.
The Hornets created their four run cushion in the following inning when their offense generated three hits. Nevius led off with an infield single but got picked off for the first out. After Charlie DeMassi popped out, Boen reached on an infield single to short then stole second. Haggis then singled to shallow right bringing in Boen who slid just under the tag at the plate for the fifth run and a 5-1 lead going into the top of the fifth.
“Like I said, we have a great group of seniors and they were psyched to get a home game here for one more time,” Breen said. “We played a lot of games away the last half of the season so it was certainly great to get them back out there and for them to get the win.”
Mansfield (16-5) will take on Franklin this week in the D1 South Semifinals on Wednesday at Adams Field in Quincy at 4:00.