WORCESTER, Mass. ---- In a game that started off as a pitchers' dual, turned into a seesaw scoring spree that saw No. 3 Quinsigamond defeat No. 4 Massasoit, 11-10, in a back-and-forth Region 21 Tournament battle at Tivnan Field.
The loss concludes Massasoit's season at 10-21, while Quinsigamond improved to 14-7. The game marked the third-straight year the Wyverns have knocked out the Warriors out of the Region 21 Tournament.
Starters Ian Nadeau of Brockton and Paul Wydom matched each other pitch-for-pitch through the first three frames as the game sat scoreless. In fact, the two teams combined for only one hit during the early three-inning span.
From the fourth inning on, though, the flood gates opened with regards to scoring.
The scoring pendulum started in the top of the fourth when QCC's Zach May connected on a two-out solo homer to right field ending the scoreless drought for both ball clubs.
Massasoit responded in the bottom half of the frame to take its first lead of the afternoon, as Richie Wood and Josh Truehart, both Brockton natives, each knocked in a run, putting the Warriors up 2-1.
The pendulum swung back in the Wyverns favor in the top of the fifth, touching home a trio of times, to own a 4-2 lead.
Yet again, Massasoit would retake the lead in the last of the fifth. The Warriors scored four times in the inning, featuring a clutch two-strike, two-run base hit by Jonathan O'Donnell (Hull). Wood knocked in a run with a groundout and David Logan ripped an RBI single to account for the big inning as Massasoit retook the lead, 6-4.
After Nadeau put up a zero on the mound in the top of the sixth, retiring the Wyverns in order, Massasoit continued its scoring attack, plating three more runs. The big blow in the inning coming off the bat of Luke DiTondo (Marshfield), who rocketed a two-run double into the left-centerfield gap as the Warriors led 9-4.
QCC scored twice in the seventh, both unearned, rounding out the day for Nadeau on the mound. The righty did not figure in the decision, but pitched extremely well as he had all season long. The righty went seven innings, allowed six runs, only two earned, off seven hits. He struck out six and did not walk a batter. In fact, Nadeau did not walk a batter over his final three starts of the season, totaling 20 innings on the mound.
Up 9-6 entering the last of the eighth, Massasoit tacked on another run to head to the final inning leading 10-6.
For the Warriors, things did not go their way in the final frame. In the top of the ninth, QCC batted around, scoring five times, with what proved to be the game-winning run coming home on a wild pitch. Zach May, who hit his second homer of the game during the five-run frame, moved from second base to the mound in the bottom of the ninth to retire the Warriors in order and give Quinsigamond the victory.
Massasoit finished with 10 hits as DiTondo and Logan each recorded two. DiTondo, O'Donnell and Wood all registered two RBI in the loss.
