Published July 28, 2020

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — As far as regular season games go, it was as close to a wild-card play-in as it gets.

The Loafers cruised to a 7-0 victory last night at Moulton Park behind 12 hits and a quality start from Dan Cardillo (5IP, 2H, 5K, 2BB, 0ER) to improve to 2-3 while the Slappers fell to 1-4 with sole possession of last place in the Twi League.

With that win, the Loafers jumped over the Expos and into the playoff picture with three games remaining in the regular season.

The Expos and Slappers will meet tonight, 6 p.m. at Moulton.

The Loafers scored three times in the 2nd inning, once in the 3rd, twice in the 4th and once more in the 5th to make it 7-0.

The Loaf got multiple hits from Connor O’Brien (3-for-3, RBI, R), Mike Sorrentino (3-for-4, R), Taylor Robinson (2-for-4, RBI) and Joe Galli (2-for-3, R). Cardillo (1-for-1, BB, Sac Fly) helped himself with a team-high three RBI’s.

On the hill, Cardillo did a nice job of getting out of jams in the first two innings. With one out and runners on first and third, the lefty got Matt Mercurio to pop up and struck out Jake Baressi to end the frame.

In the 2nd, Ryan BiBenedetto made it to third base with two outs but Cardillo struck out his counterpart Brian Tartarini to get out of it again.

“Tarts” pulled off the same type of magic to get the Slappers out of a 1st inning riddled with errors, escaping a bases loaded, one out situation by getting Justin Sencabaugh and Robinson to pop up.

The Loaf broke through in the bottom of the 2nd. Dom Sorrentino led off with a broken-bat single to left. Based on his reaction, the only thing more clear than the end of the bat’s life was that he didn’t get it off a clearance rack. This one hurt. Galli poured some salt on the wound by picking it up and giving it the old handle tap just to make sure it was gone; after the dead vibrations rattled around Moulton Dom hit him with a sarcastic “Thanks Galli, I wasn’t sure.”

“At least you got a hit,” said Galli, recognizing the bat’s heroic final act, who followed up with one of his own – a well-struck double that put runners at second and third. Cardillo then came through with a looping double to no-man’s land in left to make it 2-0.

Another error, this time off the bat of O’Brien scored Cardillo. After a “Tino” single the Slappers made the the web gem of the day (not counting a nasty barehanded snag by the ump behind the mound after an errant throw intended for Cardillo in the 2nd) when Andrew Patti laid out from left to right on a Teddy Larivee liner, made the catch and from the dirt shuffled the ball over to second for a double play to end the inning.

The Loafers scratched around another run in the 3rd. Sencabaugh reached on a sky-high pop that fell to the infield for another error. Robinson singled and Galli later singled to load the bases with one out. Cardillo hit a sac fly but not without some excitement. Matt Rej made the catch in deep center and set his sights for third base rather than a cutoff for home. Robinson was tagging from second and Rej’s throw nearly got him on a close play at the bag. It may have saved a run depending on when Sencabaugh crossed the plate, but instead, the Loafers went up 4-0.

Cardillo rolled to a 1,2,3 inning in both the 4th and 5th innings and the Loaf grabbed two more in the bottom of the 4th.

O’Brien led off with a two-bagger to left-center, “Tino” singled him to third and Larivee brought him home with a sac fly. Later with two outs, Robinson ripped an RBI single to make it 6-0.

O’Brien ended his nice night at the plate with an RBI single in the 5th to score Cardillo.

The Loafers gave some work to ace Garrett Cole who pitched the final two innings.

It was a key win for the reigning champions who are finding their form with back-to-back W’s after starting the season 0-3. They will target the 2-2 Brewers next on Friday night at 6 p.m. back at Moulton. The Brewers will first meet the Unknowns in a battle for second place on Wednesday night.