Thomas Shurtleff (11) sets and delivers home a pitch in the bottom of the second inning. Photo by Mike Flanagan.
By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
The Medfield High School varsity baseball team rolled into Millis on Friday afternoon scorching hot and looking to pick up their eighth victory in a row.
Simply put, the Warriors (10-1) were dominant from the first pitch. Senior Sam Palmer crushed a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to go along with an RBI single by Sam Kornet, giving Medfield an early 3-0 lead.
Following a 1-2-3 bottom half with a pair of strikeouts by junior Thomas Shurtleff, the Warriors scored four runs. Senior captains Ben Leonard and Dennis Folan drew walks to lead off the inning. Leonard would come around to score on a single to right by senior Ryan Murray, which advanced Folan over to third. Senior Charlie Walsh drove in Folan three pitches into the ensuing at-bat with an RBI groundout to second. An error on a fly ball to left off the bat of Shurtleff brought home Murray to make it a 6-0 game after two innings.
Shurtleff struck out the side in the bottom of the second, keeping the score 6-0 after two full. With the game still 6-0 in the top of the fourth, Palmer drew his second walk of the day to lead off the inning. Junior Brett Nickerson crushed a double off the right-centerfield fence to bring home Palmer and extend the lead to 7-0. A walk to junior Jimmy Chadwick and an infield hit by junior Ben Sleboda loaded the bases for junior Nate Baacke. On the third pitch of the at-bat, Baacke crushed a grand slam over the right-centerfield fence deep into the woods, giving the Warriors an 11-0 lead.
Medfield would go on to record six more runs between the top halves of the fourth and fifth. Shurtleff's day would end with no earned runs or hits allowed through four innings. Senior Liam Milne came on and closed out the game in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of fly-outs and a groundout to third, as Medfield game away with the 18-1 victory via slaughter rule.
For funny and incisive sports analysis as well as video highlights of games, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram handles @flano0.
