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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
It was the Holden Ferrari show at Curt Schilling Field on Thursday afternoon when the Dover-Sherborn Regional and Medfield High School varsity baseball teams met up for the first time in 2017. Along with five shutout innings pitched, Ferrari went two for three at the plate with two singles, two runs scored, an RBI, and two stolen bases, guiding the Raiders (2-1) to a 9-1 victory over the arch-rival Warriors (2-2).
After leading off the game with a single, Ferrari was able to swipe second base on a steal and later reached third base via a fielder’s choice. Despite there being two outs and no more hits allowed by the Warriors in the top of the first, some heads-up base-running by Ferrari on a passed ball allowed DS to snag the early 1-0 lead.
From there, Ferrari was able to navigate through five scoreless innings of four-hit ball. After sending down the Warriors 1-2-3 in the bottom of the second, Ferrari found himself in a bit of trouble after surrendering two hits to begin the bottom of the third. With runners on first and second and nobody out, DS’s Hank Reinhart made arguably the play of the game on a line drive out to right field. Reinhart battled through the sun and made a diving catch to save at least one run if not two, and fired the ball back in to the infield to avoid the runner being able to tag from second to third. Ferrari then got the ground ball to short that he was looking for with the next Medfield batter, and the Raiders were able to get out of the jam by turning an inning-ending double play.
The Raiders again found themselves in a bit of a jam in the bottom of the fourth, as Medfield’s Jarrett Lee was able to draw a four-pitch walk to open up the inning. Ferrari countered by striking out Christopher Schworer and forcing a pop-up to second base, but dished out walks to Mason Giunta and Ryan Johnson to keep the inning alive with the bases loaded. DS catcher James Wright made some critical blocks on balls in the dirt with a runner on third to preserve the 1-0 lead for the Raiders. After working the count to 3-2 on the ensuing batter, James Voss, Ferrari was able to strike out Voss looking to end the inning and once again allow DS to escape undamaged.
Both teams left runners stranded in the fifth inning and the game remained 1-0 DS after five, but the Raiders finally were able to extend their lead in the top-half of the sixth when Hank Reinhart smacked a single to left field with runners on second and third. The hit to left field by Reinhart plated both Ryan Sliwinski and Matt Strong, and DS suddenly found themselves ahead with insurance at 3-0. The two-RBI hit by Reinhart was the conclusion of Medfield pitcher Sean Tyer’s day, who went five and a third innings with seven hits allowed, four strikeouts, and three earned runs. However, the Raiders continued to hammer away at the plate in the top of the sixth after chasing Tyer from the game, and were able extend their lead to 6-0 after RBI singles by Eric Levine and James Wright.
Chase Almy came on in relief for DS in the bottom of the sixth, and despite giving up a run, was able to protect the lead for the Raiders, who entered the seventh and final inning ahead at 6-1.
The Raiders tacked on some further run support in the top of the seventh, plating three runs via a two-RBI double by Ryan Sliwinski and an RBI single by Holden Ferrari, and DS found themselves ahead comfortably at 9-1. The Raiders shut the door in the bottom half of the inning during Medfield’s final at-bats, and hung on for the eight-run victory.
DS will look to continue their winning ways when they travel to face Sutton in a non-conference matchup on April 21, while Medfield will look to get back on track when they host non-conference opponent Wellesley on April 19.
