Friday afternoon Varsity Baseball played their second game in three days, and looked to get back on the winning track after a Wednesday loss at Wakefield by the score of 11-2. Visiting the Raiders was a Melrose team with a 6-3 record, and winners of five in a row.
Watertown sent their ace to the mound, senior righthander Lucas Pizzuto, who had pitched deep into all his outings so far this season, including an impressive 8-inning performance Friday night April 18 versus Stoneham, a game Watertown won 5-4.
On this day, though, Pizzuto lacked a bit of his usual reliable control, and he just couldn’t get his curveball moving or throw it for strikes. It didn’t help that Melrose swung the bats early and often, spraying the ball all over the field. Pizzuto ended up only pitching two innings and giving up four runs. But baseball is a team game, and this was a team loss, final score Melrose 10 – Watertown 0.
Melrose scored 3 runs in the first on five hits, and left the bases loaded. They added 1 run in the second on two more hits and left two on base. Melrose got hits from up and down the order in the first two innings and stole four bases.
In the meantime, Emilio Berndt smacked a two-out double in the Watertown first, but Melrose’s righthander threw a nasty curveball for strike three to get Pizzuto out looking to end the inning. In the second, Watertown pieced together singles by Jayden Pineda and Kingston Omalade, and after Omalade stole second, Watertown had second and third with one out and a chance to get back in the game. Consecutive strikeouts put an end to those hopes, though, and essentially put an end to Watertown’s afternoon.
Melrose sent ten to plate in a five-run third, which included four straight singles sandwiched in-between three walks by relief pitcher Jayden Pineda. 9-0 Melrose.
Watertown mustered one more hit on the afternoon, a line drive single by leadoff hitter Jack Brennan in the bottom of the third. Dominic Moynihan followed with ground ball up the middle, but it didn’t have enough juice to sneak through for a base hit. Instead Melrose’s shortstop timed it perfectly, grabbed the ground ball, stepped on second to get Brennan, and then threw to first for the double play.
Melrose’s two-hitter, already with a single and double, mashed a homer to right-center in the fifth to end the scoring for the afternoon. After five innings, and down ten runs, the game was over. Melrose had their sixth straight win in a dominating 10-0 victory over the Raiders.
Watertown goes to 3-6 on the season, 1-6 in league play. The Raiders try to turn things around with three games the week of April 28. They have 7 p.m. home games versus Reading on Monday April 28 and Arlington on Thursday May 1, and a roadie at Winchester on Wednesday April 30 at 4:15 p.m.
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1 2 3 4 5 R H E
Melrose 3 1 5 0 1 10 12 1
Watertown 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0