ESSEX — It’s tournament time and the Manchester Essex baseball squad was up for the challenge in their MIAA Division 4 preliminary round opener on Saturday.
After securing the No. 31 seed in the bracket, the Hornets welcomed No. 34 O’Bryant to Memorial Park in Essex and established themselves early and often en route to a big win.
The game ended in the bottom of the fifth inning as Manchester Essex, having scored nine unanswered runs at the time, pushed across the 10th run, and due to the 10-run mercy rule, claimed their first victory of the tournament with a 10-0 decision.
“Because of our 5-15 record this year, many people didn’t think that we were a very good team. But we had eight one run games,” said Hornets’ coach B.J. Weed. “We played a strong schedule, and these guys are good. We came to play today and I believe we’ll come to play again (Sunday) against Uxbridge.”
While Manchester Essex did find some success against second-seeded Uxbridge the following afternoon in the Round of 32, they weren’t quite able to pull off the upset against a 16-win squad. Matteo Sarmanian, Connor St. Laurent and Kevin McKenna each registered hits while Matt McKenna had a hit and an RBI.
It was a 3-2 game in the fifth — “We were right there with them,” said Weed — but Uxbridge erupted for seven quick runs from there to effectively end the Hornets season with an 11-2 setback.
In the victory the day prior, however, it was all Hornets. They took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Matt McKenna came in to score on an error, and never looked back. The home team broke the game open in the bottom of the second inning, scoring five runs for a swift 6-0 lead. Hits by Sarmanian (three hits on the day), a double by Kevin McKenna, a single by Nick Brown, and a sacrifice by Nick Glass accounted for the runs.
Meanwhile, Sarmanian was pitching scoreless baseball for the winners. He tossed three hitless innings with five strikeouts before being relieved by Sachel Rubin, who also pitched well the next two frames. Rubin allowed just three hits and no runs.
In the bottom of the fourth inning the Hornets plated three more runs highlighted by hits by Sarmanian, Matt McKenna, Kevin McKenna (two hits in the game), Parker Woodman and Nick Brown (two hits in the game). It was a dominant offensive performance by the hosts throughout.
“Early in the game I saw they were late on my fastball so I didn’t throw many curve balls,” said Hornets’ starter Sarmanian. “I think we’ll do well against Uxbridge tomorrow because we played a close game against Lynnfield this year and they are a D1 team.”
While the Hornets weren’t able to keep their season alive, they certainly battled until the final out against one of the favorites in the D4 bracket. With much of their roster returning to the field next year, the future remains bright for the program.
— Nick Giannino contributed to this report