Sam Palmer (15) winds and fires home a pitch during his five innings of work in Medfield High varsity baseball's 7-1 win at Westwood on Wednesday. Photos by Mike Flanagan.
By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Medfield and Westwood High School varsity baseball opened the 2021 season against one another on May 5. The result was a lopsided 11-1 victory for Medfield. Since, the Warriors (12-1) have ran through the majority of their competition in the TVL, thanks a loaded pitching staff complemented by an almost entire college-committed infield.
Westwood, meanwhile, struggled out of the gates. The loss to Medfield began a three-game losing skid to start the 2021 season. However, in recent weeks, the Wolverines (7-5) have rebounded significantly. Entering Tuesday’s rematch at home against Medfield, Westwood had won all of its previous five games.
Stevenson-committed staff ace Sean Shea got the start for Westwood, while Westfield State committed ace Sam Palmer took the mound for Medfield. Similarly to the first time these two teams faced, Medfield got the bats going early. Sam Palmer led off the game with an infield single on the first pitch he saw from Shea. On the second pitch of the game, Pepperdine-committed shortstop Jack Goodman cranked a double into the left-centerfield gap to plate Palmer for a 1-0 Medfield lead. Goodman would later come around to score, thanks to an groundout to second by Stonehill-committed second -baseman Dennis Folan. Shea worked his way out of any further damage with a pair of groundouts and a Ryan Murray fly-out to right. The lead remained 2-0 after a half inning.
Palmer retired Westwood in order in the home half of the first with a pair of strikeouts mixed around a pop-out to second. Nate Baacke singled to center with one out in the top of the second inning. A walk to Palmer put runners at first and second for Goodman. On a 2-1 count, Goodman ripped a line drive destined for right-center field. Westwood senior captain Declan Guarino dove and made an incredible run-saving catch before doubling off Baacke at second and keeping the game 2-0 after an inning and a half.
A pair of two-out errors allowed Westwood to put runners and first and second in the bottom of the second. A passed ball to the backstop put runners in scoring position for John Techiera, who ripped a single into right, scoring Jack Rufo from third and getting Westwood on the board at 2-1. The Wolverines nearly tied the game on a ball hit up the middle by Guarino, but a great run-saving stab and throw to first on the run by Folan got Medfield out of the inning with the lead still intact.
Skidmore-committed first baseman Sam Kornet led off the top of the third with a walk before advancing to second on a wild pitch and later to third on a ground-out to second. An RBI sacrifice fly to center by Matt Donohue brought home Kornet to extend Medfield’s lead back to a pair at 3-1 after two and a half.
Some phenomenal pitching by both Palmer and Shea kept the game 3-1 in favor of Medfield until the top of the sixth. Ryan Murray drew a walk to lead off the inning. Shea struck out Thomas Shurtleff to record the first out of the inning. Baacke ripped a double to the right-center to put runners at second and third. On the first pitch of the ensuing at-bat, Palmer cranked a double down the third base line to score Murray and Baacke and extend Medfield’s lead to 5-1.
Following a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, Tufts-committed catcher Ben Leonard wore a pitch on the elbow to lead off the top of the seventh. Brett Nickerson came on, pinch-ran for Leonard and stole second. Nickerson later came around to score, thanks to a single by Murray to right. A passed ball allowed Murray to advance to second. Two pitches later, Baacke connected for his third hit of the day, this time a single to right, scoring Murray and extending Medfield’s lead to 7-1.
Shurtleff came on and closed out the game for Medfield in the bottom half, striking out Guarino followed by a fly to center and a strikeout to Cam Dayton to end it. The win completed the regular season sweep for the Warriors over the Wolverines.
For funny and incisive sports analysis as well as video highlights of games, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram handles @flano0.
