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Sports

Merchants nip Bulldogs with 7th Inning Rally, 3-1

Merchants take over 2nd place before an enthusiastic gathering at Morton Field

Wakefield (3)—Townsend 3-0, Searles 3-0, Sorrentino 3-1, J. Papa 3-1, L. Papa 3-1, Hartung 3-1, Roth 3-1, Ramsey 2-0, Lossano 2-0,  Totals 25-5 

Reading (1)—Dellorfon 2-0, Cataldo 3-1, Manzi 3-0, Talis 3-1, Fischer 3-0, Gagnon 3-0, O’Leary 3-3, D. Flutie 2-1, Strukel  2-1, B. Flutie 1-0,  Totals 25-7 

Doubles – Roth

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Home Run- L. Papa 

WP- Bisso (5-1)   LP-  Kelley  (1-1)

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Wakefield    0100002      3   5   1
Reading      0000100      1   7   0

Wrap:

The Wakefield Merchants shaded the Bulldogs 3-1 on Tuesday night at Morton Field before a large crowd after scoring two runs in the seventh to break up a tight pitchers duel.

It was Chamber Of Commerce night at the game and the game also served as a benefit to EMARC, a local organization that works with citizens with developmental disabilities.

The two teams didn’t disappoint, as the spectators were treated to some high quality baseball which featured the league’s leading pitcher Darren Bisso (0.20 ERA entering the game) and the Bulldogs Nick Kelley limiting any offensive activity.

The Bulldogs had a chance in the first inning to jump out on top of Bisso, who had only allowed one run all season. Bill Cataldo singled and stole second base, then Zac Talis ripped a hard single up the middle, but the Merchant centerfielder Bobby Lossano threw a perfect strike to home nailing Cataldo at the plate.

Wakefield’s Joe Papa then delivered a home run to center field to lead off the second inning, and instead of being up 1-0, the Bulldogs were down 1-0.

From there, the pitching took over on both sides. Kelley set down the Merchants easily over the next four innings, retiring thirteen straight batters along the way. Bisso wasn’t touched again until the fifth inning.

In the fifth, the Bulldogs finally put a run on the board on a Doug Dellorfon sacrifice fly bringing in Kevin O’Leary who had been advanced to third by Doug Flutie and Derek Strukel.

The game entered the seventh inning and the league’s leading hitter Mike Sorrentino (.433 BA) singled to lead off the inning, which was Wakefield’s first base runner since the second inning.  After Sorrentino was advanced to second on an out, Lorenzo Papa hit a long single to the right center gap bringing home the lead run. Papa then scored on Jason Roth’s double to extend the lead to 3-1.

The Bulldogs, whom have been showing a lot of late inning magic recently, put the tying runs on with one out after O’Leary and Flutie singled. However, Bisso retired the last two hitters on a strikeout and fly out to give the Merchants their fifteenth win of the season.

“It was a very well played game by both teams and especially by both pitchers,” said coach Matt Morrison, “but we have to start winning some of these close ones against the better teams if we are going to make the playoffs."

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