HAVERHILL — All it took was one bad inning to derail the Saugus Wings’ hopes of moving on in the North Shore Baseball League playoffs, as the Wings fell to the Kingston Night Owls, 7-1, in the decisive third game of their first-round series at Trinity Stadium on Friday night. The Wings were holding on to a 1-0 lead entering the bottom of the sixth when they gave up seven runs, including walking in three runs.
“It’s tough, you know, we had a 1-0 lead over the No. 2 seed going into the bottom of the sixth, but we just couldn’t close it out,” said Saugus coach Mark Mitchell. “I think some of it had to do with the experience factor, but that’s also a really good team they have over there in Kingston. It’s a tough way to go down, but I’m proud of how our guys played.”
David Harris got the start and pitched a solid game on the mound for Saugus, giving up two runs on five hits with four strikeouts in five-plus innings of work. The lone RBI on the day came from pinch-hitter Pat Murray.
Despite the tough end to the game and the season, Mitchell is very happy with the performance of his team this season, especially considering the Wings were the youngest team in the NSBL this year.
“No one thought we’d win anything this year since it’s our first year in the league, our oldest player is only 20 years old,” said Mitchell. “But the guys played hard all season and gained a ton of experience, so you can’t be too upset about that.”
It was a real pitchers duel over the first three innings, with each pitcher only allowing two baserunners over that span. Things finally opened up in the top of the fourth, starting with a leadoff single from Dawson Gaudet. After a popout and two singles, Murray stepped into the box with the bases loaded and one out. He hit a bouncing grounder to third base that was hit soft enough to bring in the run, giving the Wings a 1-0 advantage.
Saugus loaded the bases up in the top of the fifth as well, but couldn’t push any runs across.
That ended up hurting the Wings, as Kingston finally made its comeback in the bottom of the sixth. It all started when Nick Comei reached on an error to lead off then Joe Morin singled. After Harris threw a wild pitch that advanced the runners to second and third, he was pulled from the game. The Wings brought in John Prentice, who intentionally walked Dan Morin to load the bases. After Prentice forced a fly out, he proceeded to walk both Chris Gerossie and Jake White to bring in two runs, giving Kingston the lead. Nick Shumski followed with an RBI bunt single on a suicide squeeze, then Tom Diskin broke the game open with a two-run double. After Comei knocked an RBI single and Joe Morin drew an RBI walk, the score stood at 7-1.
Ryan Corriveau came on to close out the final inning for Kingston, ending the season for the Wings.
Mitchell knows that his team will be back next year, and he’s sure that all of the experience the Wings gained will only help them in the future.
“That’s the best part about having such a young team, we can only get better,” said Mitchell. “The guys will all be back next year with that much more under their belt and who knows, maybe we’ll be able to push for a top-four seed next year.”
