NORTH EASTON, Mass. - The last time Oliver Ames senior lefty Brendan Welch threw off the mound at Frothingham Park, he and a couple teams had to shovel over a foot of snow just to get to it in the middle of March.
Fast forward two months and about 40 degrees warmer and Welch did just fine in his home debut, tossing a complete game with 12 strikeouts and getting three outs in the top of the 7th inning with the bases loaded as OA picked up 2-1 win over Mansfield in a non-league game.
“That’s the best he pitched,” OA head coach Leo Duggan said. “This was his first home game. I thought he threw the ball really well. He was getting a little tired at the end but we wanted him to finish. He’s just a horse, I don’t think there’s a better pitcher in the league. [Mansfield] is a really good though, they won the Kelley-Rex.”
Despite falling behind the first two batters of the game, Welch battled back for strikeouts and after a walk, got his third K to get out of the top of the first. OA’s offense didn’t take long to get on the bored in the bottom half of the first. Junior shortstop Chris Romero connected for a two-out single and was brought home by Alex Geba’s base hit in the next at-bat to make it 1-0.
The game stayed 1-0 through the next three and a half innings. Welch allowed just two hits between the second and fifth innings and one runner reached via an error. In the four innings, Welch picked up eight strikeouts while protecting the one run lead.
The Tigers were kept at bay through the second, third and fourth innings by Hornet’s start Michael Kirejczyk, who went five innings and giving up two earned runs to OA, who had been averaging over 14 runs a game over the last four games.
Oliver Ames’ offense was finally able to breakthrough again in the fifth inning. Larry Kelley led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to the left side of the infield and advanced to second on an overthrow. Kirejczyk got two more outs but Kelley advanced to third after an error on a pick off attempt. Romero picked up his third hit of the game, bringing Kelley home. OA loaded the bases but Kirejczyk was able to catch Romero in a pickle between third and home to escape the jam.
Mansfield, who has tacked on runs in the either the sixth or seventh innings in the last two wins, nearly was able to pull off another comeback against OA. Tyrone Pascual-Fredrick led off the top of the seventh inning with a single and stole second. A single from Matt Carafe put runners on the corners and then a walk to Tanner Haggis loaded the bases without any outs.
Welch picked up his 12th strikeout of the game for the first out of the inning and then induced a pop up in four territory to catcher Nolan Edwards for the second out. On a full count, Branden Nevius drew a walk to bring Pascual-Fredrick home for Mansfield’s lone run as Welch got the final out, getting a fly ball to centerfielder Mike Ferrara to end the game.
“He’s certainly the best pitcher we’ve faced all year, no doubt,” Mansfield head coach Joe Breen said of Welch. “And unfortunately we had to face him twice. We came into today’s game knowing we have the state tournament ahead of us and we know every team we face will have their ace going and this was a good test for us. I’m certainly proud of our guys not rolling over and getting back at it with the bases loaded with no outs.”
Romero proved to be the offensive standout for the Tigers, going 3-3 with a run scored and the game-winning RBI.
“Our last four games are against tournament teams so we’d like to get a home game because we play well here,” Duggan added. “Give Mansfield credit, they’re a real good team.”
Oliver Ames has now won five straight but has a tough slate of home games next week when they host Franklin, North Attleboro and Stoughton, starting with the Panthers on Tuesday. Mansfield’s eight game winning streak is snapped but the Hornets will look to begin a new one on Wednesday with a trip to Stoughton.
Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.