Reading Bulldogs

By Jeff Pierce   Daily Times Chronicle 

Medford (6)-  Burgoyne 4-0, Salvati 4-0, Davis 4-2, Sheehan 1-0,  McConnville 4-1, Ohanesian 3-1, Gray 4-3, Pashos 4-3, Gunn 2-0,  Totals 33-10

Reading (4) – Cataldo 3-0, Conti 4-1, Manzi 4-3,Talis 2-1, Taylor 1-0, Fischer 3-1, Hartwell 4-1, Gagnon 3-0,Zajac 3-0, Totals 27-7

Medford   014 001 0  - 6

Reading   040 000 0   -4 

Doubles: Gray 

WP- Richard   LP-   O’Neil   

Wrap: The Bulldogs fell flat at home on Sunday evening in a key matchup against the Medford Americans by a score of 6-4, in a game that had important playoff implications. As has been a repeating pattern for Reading this year, their failure to break open games early with key hits and giving up leads in the middle and late innings are the main reasons they stand at 10-12-1 and narrowly hanging on to the final playoff spot with less than two weeks left in the season. Early on the Bulldogs looked like they were going to take advantage of the wild Medford starter who walked six batters in the first two innings by scoring four runs. In the second inning Trevor Manzi  knocked in a run with one of his three hits on the night to provide Reading with a 4-1 lead. Unfortunately that was the end of the offense and the lead was lost six batters into the next American time at-bat. The key hit was provided by former RMHS (’10) outfielder Andrew Gray who knocked in two runs with a double in the four run uprising.  The Bulldogs had one more threat in the bottom of the fourth but with the bases loaded the Medford reliever Jon Richard struck out both Alex Fisher and Darren Hartwell to end the inning. This was the start of a five game week for the Bulldogs including playing the first and second place teams three times, and their chances of reaching the playoffs for the third straight year will most likely be decided over this stretch of games.