Reading Bulldogs

In a Sunday night matchup between the Reading Bulldogs and defending league champions, the Lexington Blue Sox, the Bulldogs came away shorthanded with a 0-2 loss.

Reading saw a strong pitching performance from Jack Burke who only allowed 3 hits through 5 innings. Both runs scored by Lexington were unearned.

Lexington’s starting pitcher, Kelvin Guzman, threw 6 scoreless innings of 4 hit ball. Blue Sox outfielder Jeff Costello recorded two singles and scored both times.

Reading will play host to the Wakefield Merchants at 8:00pm tomorrow night.

All photos can be found at: http://shartwell.zenfolio.com/bulldogs17

The Bulldogs met up with the Wakefield Merchants for the first time this season on Wednesday night. The game featured a back and fourth game with both offenses having big nights, but ultimately Wakefield coming away with the victory.

The Merchants got off to a fast start, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Bulldogs got one run back in the second inning when Chris Bosco scored with the bases loaded. Wakefield continued to swing the bats well as the tallied another run in the third inning making the score 4-1.

The Bulldogs offense would not let up though, as they came back to tie the game at 4 in the fifth inning. Kevin Marciano, Chris Bosco, and Mike DeDonato all came through with RBI hits in the inning, propelling Reading to tie the game. The game continued to go back and forth as the Merchants came back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the 5th inning, giving them a two-run lead. The Bulldogs were able to pick up one more run on a sacrifice fly from Kevin Marciano, but fell short in the end by a score of 8-5.

Although the Bulldogs could not pull out a victory, they should great fight in a back and forth offensive game. Mike DeDonato had a perfect day at the plate, going 4-4, Darren Hartwell had three singles out of the leadoff spot, and Kevin Marciano continued to swing the bat well, picking up a double and two RBIs. The Bulldogs pitching was strong, despite the runs scored by Wakefield. Jack Theriault started and only allowed one earned run through 4 1/3 Innings.

The Bulldogs will continue their season on Sunday at Endicott College against the Lexington Blue Sox.

All game photos can be found at: http://shartwell.zenfolio.com/bulldogs17 

The Reading Bulldogs met with the Arlington Trojans for the second time this season on Monday night at Endicott College. In a tightly contested game, the Bulldogs came away with a dramatic win in extra innings to get them back in the win column.

Colby Morris started for Reading, giving the team five solid innings, scattering four hits and striking out five. The Bulldogs scored their first run in the second inning. After Mike DeDonato and Johnny Hayes both reached base to start the inning, DeDonato scored on a fielder’s choice play with Mike Taylor at bat. After the second the Buldogs could not get any more runs off the Trojan’s starter, despite collecting eight combined hits against him.

The Bulldogs saw strong relief appearances again from both Alex Mandrus and Max Mardany but, Arlington was able to string together a few hits in the top of the seventh to send the game to extra innings. It was in the bottom of the eighth that the Bulldogs hit their stride. Chris Bosco and Mike DeDonato both reached base to begin the inning and then Mike Taylor delivered with an RBI single up the middle to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 win.

A big key to the Bulldog’s victory was aggressiveness on the base paths, as they tallied four stolen bases in the game. Johnny Hayes reached base four times on the night including three hits. Chris Bosco kept up his hot hitting and in his first game of the season, Macyn Clifford was on base three times, drawing two walks.

The Bulldogs will look to get another win on Wednesday night when they take on the Wakefield Merchants for the first time this season at 6:00 PM in Wakefield.

All game photos can be found at: http://shartwell.zenfolio.com/bulldogs17

The Reading Bulldogs met with the Melrose Americans for their first matchup of the 2017 season on Monday night. Pitching dominated the game and the Americans came away with a 2-0 victory over Reading on a hot night at Endicott College.

Reading got a great start from pitcher, Jack Burke. Burke gave the team four strong innings, only surrendering three hits and two runs, both unearned. Melrose tallied both of their runs in the fourth inning on an RBI ground out by Matt Hosman and an RBI single by Mike LaRovere.

The Bulldogs came up with six hits as a team but could not put up a run against Melrose’s starter. Their starter gave a complete game effort, striking out seven. Many Bulldogs kept up their hot hitting, including Kevin Marciano and Johnny Hayes who both had two hits on the night. After his first two games of the season, Marciano is off to a great start, hitting .667, which is currently third best in the Intercity League.

Reading saw strong relief appearances again from Alex Mandrus and Max Mardany. Both came out of the bullpen for Reading and surrendered no hits while striking out a combined five.

The Bulldogs will look to get back in the win column at their next game tomorrow night against the Arlington Trojans at 8:00 PM.

All game photos can be found at: http://shartwell.zenfolio.com/bulldogs17

On Wednesday night in Malden, we saw a battle of last year’s semifinal matchup between the Reading Bulldogs and the Andre Chiefs. The Bulldogs were able to come away with their first win of the season by the score of 5-4 in a very well-pitched game by both teams. Each team had a total of 5 hits apiece, but free bases and two errors by the Chiefs is what helped propel the Bulldogs to victory along with some timely hitting.

Without recording a single hit in the first inning, the Bulldogs sent 6 batters to the plate, two of which scored via an error and fielder’s choice. From there, Bulldogs starting pitcher Colby Morris pitched two 1,2,3 innings to start the game until the third inning where he allowed three runs on two hits and two walks.

With the Chiefs up one heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, they lead off with a double by Pallazola who later went on to score an insurance run off of a single from Andre to put the chiefs up 4-2.

Trailing by two runs entering the fifth, Bulldogs catcher Chris Bosco lead off with a walk, stole second base, and advanced to third base on a pass ball. With Bosco on third and one out, centerfielder Darren Hartwell hit an RBI infield single to come within one run. The Bulldogs weren’t done yet as the Chiefs pitcher, Jared Freni, was pulled after walking the next batter bringing in left hander Joe Saia. Saia gave up another walk to load the bases before throwing a wild pitch allowing Hartwell to score the tying run. With runners now on second and third and 1 out, Bulldogs shortstop Kevin Marciano hit an RBI single to right field plating Nick Berno to take the 5-4 lead in the fifth.

A one run lead was all the Bulldogs needed as their bullpen shut the door on the Chiefs hitters. Wayne Lundgreen pitched the 5th inning facing 4 batters giving up only 1 hit. Max Mardany came in for the final two innings striking out 4, giving up 0 hits. A strong start from Morris, and 3 dominant innings combined from Lundgreen and Mardany out of the bullpen gave Reading the victory.

Wayne Lundgreen was the winning pitcher for Reading, and Jared Freni took the loss for the Chiefs. Marciano finished the game 2-3, hitting in the winning run with his one RBI and Bosco had 1 walk and a hit to go along with two stolen bases and a run scored. Reading will play the Melrose Americans Sunday night at Endicott College.

All games photo can be found at: http://shartwell.zenfolio.com/bulldogs17