BROCKTON, Mass. ---- Dylan Ashburn (Norton) and Nick Andrews (Raynham) each mashed a pair of homers and starter Jake Morris (Bourned) pitched six strong innings as the Massasoit baseball team defeated Quinsigamond 12-2 in six-innings on the first day of the Region 21 Baseball Tournament.
The Warriors (17-12) will face top-seed Northern Essex (22-11-1) on Saturday at Colombo Field with first pitch set for 10 AM. The Knights defeated Holyoke 9-3 in the other contest on day one.
Andrews had a career-day at the plate going a perfect 4-for-4, scoring three runs, knocking in four and ripping two singles to go along with his pair of two-run bombs. In fact, Andrews' second deep fly in the bottom of the sixth proved to be a walk off as the Warriors went up by 10 runs to put the mercy rule in action.
Ashburn was also a beast at the plate, launching two two-run round trippers of his own as part of a 2-for-4 day. Jack DeCoste (East Sandwich) went 2-for-3 with two RBI, Ricky Sherlock (Whitman) roped two hits and scored twice, Luis Ramirez (Dedham) added two hits and Bryan Dwyer (Abington) knocked in a pair in the victory.
All nine hitters in the Warriors lineup recorded at least one hit as Massasoit finished with 16 base knocks on the day, featuring the four long balls.
Lost in all the offense was the dominant pitching of freshman Jake Morris (Bourne). The righty went the distance, pitching all six innings, yielding only two earned runs off three hits. Morris fanned eight and walked three, improving to 5-1 on the season.
Quinsigamond (7-11-1) led 2-0 after Juan Soto connected for a two-run homer in the top half of the second.
Massasoit would respond in the last of the second when DeCoste ripped a two-out RBI single, plating Andrews to pull the Warriors within one.
An inning later, the Warriors would take the lead for good using some two-out lightning, as Ashburn and later Andrews both hit two-run bombs to put Massasoit up 5-2.
The Warriors expanded their lead 8-2 in the fourth, thanks to a sac fly from Dwyer and two-run shot by Ashburn. In the fifth, the Green and White kept pouring it as DeCoste and Dwyer ripped RBI singles and the game would close out on the two-run big fly by Andrews.
Massasoit will face Northern Essex on Saturday, as the two teams will meet for the fourth time, with the Knights winning the previous three meetings.