WESTBOROUGH/SHREWSBURY – The St. John’s baseball team started strong and didn’t let up on Saturday against Westborough, downing the Rangers by an 11-3 margin.
Dubbed the Montalbano Classic, the game honored the late Greg Montalbano, who passed away in 2009.
St. John’s opened with five runs in the first inning on Saturday, following that with four more runs before the end of the third inning.
Westborough answered, but still found itself trailing 9-3 through three innings. The Pioneers then tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning to secure the 11-3 win.
Improving their win-loss record to 8-5 on the year, St. John’s saw a four-inning, two hit start from pitcher Aaron Forgues, who also struck out six batters to help hold Westborough at bay.
Westborough fell to 7-4 with this defeat.
Honored on Saturday, Montalbano was a Westborough resident and St. John’s baseball star.
He graduated from St. John’s in 1995 and excelled at Northeastern University before being drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1999.
Montalbano subsequently went on to play minor league baseball, with the Boston Globe noting in its obituary that Montalbano continued with his baseball career even after having to restart treatment for testicular cancer that had been in remission,
Beyond his playing career, Montalbano worked as an engineer. He also served as an assistant coach at St. John’s and worked to raise awareness about testicular cancer, among other community service endeavors.
Montalbano passed away at the age of 31, “after repeatedly throwing every pitch in his repertoire at his 13-year battle with cancer,” as described in his obituary.
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