Reading Bulldogs

The Reading Bulldogs took on the first-place Watertown Reds on Thursday night at Victory Field in Watertown. In what was a back and fourth game, the Bulldogs came away with their biggest win of the year, upsetting the first-place Reds with a 7-6 victory.

The Bulldogs bats got started early in the top of the first inning. They got out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to four hits in the inning, including an RBI single from Steve Busby. The Reds answered quickly in the bottom of the first, getting a run of their own and cutting the Bulldogs lead to just one. In the third inning, the Reds tacked on another run when Kyle LaVigne hit an inside the park homerun to deep right field to tie the score 2-2. Watertown continued to swing the bats well as they tacked on one more run, making the score 3-2 at the end of four innings.

Alex Mandrus started for the Bulldogs and gave the team a solid performance. Mandrus pitched into the fourth inning and was able to limit the Red’s to just three runs, allowing the Bulldogs to stay in the game through the middle innings. The Bulldogs pulled even with the Reds in the fifth inning when Chris Bosco smacked an RBI single, bringing the score to 3-3. The game continued to go back and forth until the Bulldogs broke it open with three runs in the top of the sixth inning. All nine batters came to the plate and the team collected three hits, including key RBI hits from Chris Seidl and Rosario Missiti.

The Bulldogs tacked on one more run in the top of the seventh and were able to close out a close 7-6 victory. This was a huge win for Reading as they showed constant fight through the whole game. They saw strong relief performances from Zak Levine and Jack Theriault. Theriault pitched 2.2 innings to close out the game and pick up his second win on the season. Chris Bosco continues to be one of the hottest hitters in the ICL as he picked up two more hits and an RBI. The Bulldogs also saw strong offensive nights from Steve Busby, Chris Seidl, and Corey DiLoretto.

The Bulldogs will take on the Lexington Blue Sox for their next game on Sunday night at Endicott College.