SWAMPSCOTT — Good things happen when you put the ball in play. That was the theme of the Swampscott baseball team’s 14-0 win over Latin Academy in the opening round of the Division 3 North state tournament at Swampscott Middle School Thursday.
No. 9 Latin Academy made four costly errors and No. 8 Swampscott cashed in on the extra outs. Once the Big Blue bats found their footing, the Dragons didn’t have an answer.
Leadoff hitter Jonathan Oriakhi (4-for-5, five RBI) carried the offense with a pair of home runs. His first was a 3-run longball in the bottom of the fourth after a 2-out error extended the inning. The latter was a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth.
“Jonathan has been amazing all year,” Swampscott coach Joe Caponigro said. “He’s been something else. It was a good win for us and we move on. One game at a time.”
Max Pegnato gave Swampscott seven shutout innings on the hill. He allowed six hits and struck out nine. Pegnato matched Latin Academy’s Cam Kelly in a pitcher’s duel through the early innings.
“(Kelly) was sneaky,” Caponigro said. “He was working guys in and threw his little slider on the outside. He had us off balance. I think the second time around we started getting on him a little bit. That’s why it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Swampscott went through the motions in the early stages. The Big Blue struggled to get a good read on Kelly and were held scoreless through the first three innings. Aidan Graciale reached on an infield single to start the bottom of the third and took second on a passed ball. But Kelly sent the next three batters down in order to squash the threat.
Swampscott found the scoreboard with help from Latin Academy’s errors in the bottom of the fourth. Dylan January (2-for-3, two runs, RBI) singled and Nick Reiser reached on an infield error. Cam O’Brien’s (2-for-4, three RBI, two runs) 2-run single plated January and Reiser for a 2-0 lead. After a fielder’s choice, Aidan Graciale reached on a misplayed grounder. Oriakhi made the Dragons pay for the error by capping the rally with a 3-run home run.
“We took advantage of some of their mistakes,” Caponigro said. “We scored five runs that inning. We were scoreless and our at-bats weren’t great through three innings. Then the next three innings, things just turned around.
“A big hit was freshman Cam O’Brien’s 2-run single,” Caponigro said. “That was a big hit to break the ice. Then a few batters later Jonathan hit that 3-run bomb. We played a good game and we made the plays.”
Reiser bumped the lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth when he scored via error. Anthony Rakauskas (1-for-3, two RBI, run) added a 2-run single, making it an 8-0 game.
With the bulk of the damage done, Swampscott cruised through the final innings. A 6-run rally, started by Oriakhi’s second home run, put the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Pegnato worked around a jam with two runners on in the seventh to seal the shutout.
“I’m really proud of the way Max threw,” Caponigro said. “We wanted to keep him under 100 pitches and we did. He’s been our workhorse all year. He’s a big reason we got into the state tournament.”
Swampscott advances to the sectional quarterfinal and will play the winner of No. 17 Arlington Catholic/No.1 Austin Prep. The Cougars host Arlington Catholic in the first round Saturday (4). Austin Prep ended Swampscott’s tournament run last spring.
“We’re going to practice hard Friday and Saturday,” Caponigro said. “We’ll see who we’ll play Saturday and we’ll see what happens.”
