GLOUCESTER — Hits were tough to come by for the Masconomet baseball team on Friday at Gloucester, where they only put together three (one off starting pitcher Zach Morris) and were more than doubled in that department by the Fishermen.
While the hits were few and far between, the baserunners were not and Masconomet made the most of its chances on the base paths with a wire-to-wire, 7-1 win at Nate Ross Field.
“Against a pitcher like Morris you have to try to make things happen and be aggressive,” Chieftains head coach T.J. Baril said. “We took advantage of some walks and hit batsmen and did a good job getting into scoring position.”
With the win the Chieftains move to 13-5 and with Beverly’s loss to Danvers on Friday afternoon, are now tied with the Panthers for first place in the NEC Dunn Division.
Gloucester, on the other hand, falls to 8-9 and had its four-game win streak snapped.
“(Masco) took advantage of our mistakes with their aggressive baserunning,” head coach Rory Gentile said. “We gave them too much and we just didn’t play well in the field and at the plate today. We had as many baserunners as they did, they did more with them.”
Masconomet got its first four runs of the game with just one hit in the first five innings of play. Gabe Fales opened up the scoring in the second when he was hit by a pitch, stole two bases and came in to score on a throwing error. The Chieftains got another in the second when Ryan Corcoran, who had two of Masco’s three hits, legged out an infield single and an overthrow to first allowed Dylan Caron to score for a 2-0 edge.
Gloucester got one back in the bottom of the third when Brayden Francis came in to score from third on a dropped third strike. Francis was the offensive standout for the Fishermen on Friday going 4-for-4 with his team’s only run scored.
Masco, however, answered back quickly as Braeden O’Connell scored on a wild pitch after reaching on a dropped third strike in the third and Jacob Shirley scored on a throwing error after a walk in the fourth.
Gloucester threatened to get back in the game in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with one down, but a double-play ended the threat. The Chieftains would take that momentum into the next half inning, putting the game away with three more runs as Chris Porfido scored on a throwing error followed by a Caron RBI groundout and a Shirley RBI single to make it 7-1.
That was plenty of run support for Shirley, as Masco’s starting right hander was in command all game for his second win over Gloucester this season. He finished the afternoon with 13 strikeouts while allowing just one run and scattering seven hits.
“We have squandered a couple late leads in recent games so it was good to see us get ahead and Jacob pitch well with the lead,” Baril said. “He got stronger as the game went on and was really tough pitching with men on base.”
Gloucester put two men on in five of seven innings, but Shirley limited the damage as the third inning wild pitch accounted for the only Gloucester run.