SOMERVILLE — The English baseball team could do no wrong Tuesday morning in its season opener at Somerville’s Trum Field. English took advantage of Somerville’s miscues from start to finish and rolled to a 18-3 Northeastern Conference win.
“It’s always nice to get a win under your belt,” English coach Doug Mullins said. “We started the season a little late as far as playing games. We tried to prepare as best we could. We had a bunch of scrimmages. The guys were prepared and they were ready to go.”
English did its heavy lifting in the top of the second, when the Bulldogs pushed across eight runs to turn a 3-0 game into an 11-0 rout.
“We left the bases loaded in the first inning,” Mullins said. “We talked about it, clutch hitting and getting those runs in. (Somerville) made some mistakes and we were able to take advantage of them. That kind of blew the whole game open. From there it was about throwing strikes and keep having good at-bats.”
The Bulldog bats proved they were chomping at the bit to start the season. English recorded 16 hits. Ethan Labbe (3-for-4, 3 RBI), Anthony Mateo (1-for-3, 2 RBI), Jose Morel (3-for-3, 3 RBI), Andy Duverge (1-for-3, RBI) and Juan Subervi (1-for-3, RBI) helped carry the offense.
With English well in front, Mullins opted to pull starting pitcher Julien Silvestrie after two shutout innings. Silvestrie recorded five strikeouts. Nathaniel Espinal and Erick Henriquez pitched in relief.
“It’s still early in the season, it’s a little bit cold but I think they all did a good job,” Mullins said. “Julien stepped in and started for us. He threw two innings. It was kind of a nice bullpen session for him to get his feet wet in game situations. From there on out we just wanted guys to come in and throw strikes.”
Mateo drew a walk with the bases loaded in the top of the first, bringing Jomar Moreta home with English’s first run of the season. Labbe roped a RBI single and Erick Ubri walked with the bases loaded to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead out of the gate.
Things went downhill for Somerville quickly in the top of the second. Morel got things started with a RBI single and the Bulldogs proceeded to score seven more runs. Moreta sprinted home on a double steal and Morel raced in on a wild pitch, boosting the lead to 6-0. After a walk and a hit batter, both with the bases loaded, Duverge tacked on another run with a RBI groundout and Morel roped a 2-RBI single. English ended the inning well ahead at 11-0.
That’s how it stayed until a five-run rally stretched English’s lead to 16-0 in the fourth. Subervi hit a RBI bloop single, scoring Duverge. Mateo ripped a 2-RBI single, Subervi scored on an error and Justin Flores capped the rally with a RBI single.
The Highlanders avoided the shutout with a three-run spurt in the bottom of the fifth. Labbe’s 2-RBI single in the top of the seventh sealed the scoring for the 18-3 final.
“We got everybody in (the game),” Mullins said. “We have a good group of guys this year. We do have a lot of team chemistry.”
English (1-0) visits Medford Wednesday morning (10).
“I’m expecting a very tough team,” Mullins said. “We have to move on from (Tuesday) and start thinking about Medford. They were a 16-4 team last year and they have a lot of guys coming back. They’ll be coming for us so we have to be ready to go.”
