Reading Bulldogs

By Jeff Pierce    Daily Times Chronicle 

 Wakefield (0)-  Townsend 3-0, Searles 3-0, M. Sorrentino 3-1,  Ramsey 3-0,  Papa 2-0, Orlowitz 1-0, Breen 3-1, Napoli 3-0,  Losanno 3-1, Totals 24-3 

Reading (1) – Cataldo 4-1, Conti 4-1. Manzi 3-2, Talis 1-0,  Hartwell  3-1, Castoldi 3-1, Fischer 1-0, Zajac 3-0, Halsey 2-0, Buitkus 1-0,Totals 25-6 

Wakefield   000  000  0   0

Reading     000   010  x   1 

WP- Church   LP- Bisso  

Wrap: The Bulldogs received their second complete game shutout from a high school pitcher in the last seven days as they secured a very important 1-0 victory over Wakefield on Thursday evening at Morton Field. Peabody native Kevin Church (Bishop Fenwick) did not match Scott Tully’s shutout last Friday for pure power but it was just as fun to watch for Bulldog Manager Matt Morrison.  “Wakefield feasts on fast balls at the plate; they are a very strong hitting team. Kevin’s change up kept them off balance and he mixed in his fastballs and curves in good spots”.  Church who will be playing baseball at Salem State starting next Fall is not new to dominating games. “Kevin threw two no-hitters this past season at Fenwick and had a nineteen strikeout game. He knows how to pitch using primarily off speed stuff. You have to have a lot of confidence to throw these slower pitches in critical situations like he does” said Morrison. The Bulldogs experienced a lot of the same timely hitting issues as they have all year but only needed one run on the evening. The Bulldogs had already loaded the bases twice with less then two outs without scoring a run and then in the fifth the bases were loaded up again with one out. The bases were loaded after a hit by Trevor Manzi, a walk to Zac Talis and a Darren Hartwell single. Pete Castoldi then hit a hard grounder to the left of the shortstop that looked like a potential double play ball. However Hartwell’s speed paid off as he broke up the double play with a hard slide, and the Bulldogs finally capitalized for a 1-0 lead. “We must lead the league in runners left on base I have never seen anything like it “said Morrison, “we are one of the top few teams in the league in on-base percentage but almost last in runs scored”. On this night it did not hurt the Bulldogs and they came away with a big two points forcing their rivals to finish strong to knock them out of their playoff position. “We want to win two over the weekend and not count on teams losing for us to get in. It is important that we do not back into the spot and that we go into the playoffs on the upswing like we have the past two seasons” said Morrison.