EIGHT SENIORS will soon move on from the Warrior baseball team as they take their next step in life’s journey. From the left are Robert Shaw, Patrick Roche, Tyler Pugsley, Jake Nardone, Brendan Coughlin, Michael McKean, Jordan Fauci and Cole Kraus. (Jill Coughlin Photo)

Published in the May 18, 2018 edition.

By DAN BYRNE

WAKEFIELD—On Thursday, the Wakefield Memorial High School boys’ varsity baseball team hosted Stoneham for Senior Night.

Wakefield came in with a 6-7 record, but they jumped out ahead of the Spartans early and they got a solid complete game performance from their pitching.

Prior to the game, AD Brendan Kent addressed the crowd and introduced the team’s eight seniors. Tyler Pugsley, Jordan Fauci, Cole Kraus, Robert Shaw, Patrick Roche, Mike McKean, Jake Nardone, and Brendan Clough were recognized for their commitment and effort in their four years in the baseball program at Wakefield High.

First year head coach, Kevin Canty, spoke about his seniors after the game saying, “Coming into the first year as a coach, you never know if they’re going to accept a new style of coaching, and all eight of them have come to understand the roles they have to play, and what we need to do to be successful.

“So far,” he added, “we’ve done a pretty good job of getting to 7-7, three more wins needed to get to the tournament, and that was really our goal coming in, and we’ll see what we can do once we get to that point.”

With the Spartans waiting to get up, there was not much delay before the start of the first and lefty senior Robert Shaw took the mound for the Warriors.

“Shaw’s been our #1 all season,” Canty said, “When he’s on the mound we typically have a pretty good chance to win.”

In the first, Shaw quickly retired the first two batters he faced, with a groundout to short and a swinging strikeout. The third batter of the inning, Joey Carroll, worked a walk but was retired after he stole 2nd but got greedy when the catcher didn’t find the ball immediately and was thrown out trying to get to third.

On Shaw’s performance, Canty said, “He shut things down. When we get up like that, if he can come in and shut things down, it makes it a lot easier for us to continue to have quality at bats.”

Walter Conway was on the hill to start for Stoneham, and in the first inning he surrendered a run on two hits. Conway got the first two Warriors to retire quietly before Warriors co-captain Jake Nardone ripped a two out double. Brendan Coughlin followed it up with an rbi single to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead. Coughlin was picked off by the lefty Conway to end the inning.

In the top of the 2nd Stoneham managed a 2-out single, but Shaw struck out two in the inning and the hit didn’t materialize into any kind of rally.

In the bottom of the 2nd the Warriors sent six batters to the plate, but only managed to add one run. Tommy Motl led things off with a walk before moving up to third on a steal and a wild pitch. After Chris Cooms flew out, Cal Tryder knocked in a run with an rbi-single. Cole Kraus followed with a single, but Carroll got the next two batters to ground out, and fly out to end the threat.

Shaw got the Spartans to go down in order in the top of the third, while his team doubled their lead in the bottom half of the inning.

Tyler Puglsey led off the 3rd for the Warriors with a base hit, he’d come around to score later in the inning. Jake Nardone’s single made it 2 on and nobody out. Carroll was in trouble after Pugley and Nardone moved into scoring position, but he made a good two-strike pitch to get Coughlin to strike out, however the ball got by the catcher, Puglsey came in to score and Coughlin reached first base. After a walk to Mottl loaded the bases, Coombs struck out for the 1st recorded out of the inning. Next up Tryder hit a ground ball to 2nd that was turned into a force out at the bag, but the throw on the turn was dropped by the first baseman. Tryder was safe, but Coughlin was coming around third. The throw home was up the first baseline, and it looked as though Coughlin was in under the tag, but he was called out by the umpire and the inning ended.

Shaw got Stoneham to retire in order once again in the 4th, as the Warriors #1 pitcher held the hitters at bay.

Wakefield failed to score in the bottom of the 4th, as they couldn’t capitalize on a 1-out Eric Hickey base hit that he legged into a hustle double.

Stoneham had a threat in the top of the 5th when Shaw surrendered a one out walk, then the runner stole 2nd, but he buckled down and struck out the next two batters looking to end the inning scoreless.

The Warriors went in order in the bottom of the 5th as Nick Bamforth came in to relieve Carroll for Stoneham.

The Spartans had two on and two out in the top of the 6th, but Shaw got the last man to fly out to end the threat.

Wakefield went down in order in the bottom of the sixth.

Stoneham made their biggest push of the game when they got a leadoff single by Nick Allen to start the top of the 7th inning. Shaw retired the next batter on a fly out to centerfield, but Cameron Gilmartin ripped a double to make it 2nd and 3rd with 1 down. A sac fly from Stoneham’s Jake Nardone allowed the Spartans to score their only run, as Shaw finished the job for the Warriors, getting the last batter to ground out to third.

With the win, the Warriors move to 7-7 and keep their tournament hope very much alive.

Coach Canty knows that the road ahead brings some tough opponents their way, as they head on the road for their next three with Malden Catholic, Saugus, and Peabody coming up on the schedule.

“He’ll (Shaw) get the ball at least two more times for us and hopefully we can get W’s when he’s out there, and find one or two when he’s not out there,” Canty said after the game.

“We know what the road is ahead of us and we just need to grind it out and find ways to win games.”

“Pretty much every team we have going forward is going to be in the tournament, so we need to get wins against tournament level teams because our goal is not just to get in, but to do some damage when we get there.”

The Warriors next game is Monday at Malden Catholic, first pitch scheduled for 3:45.