SHREWSBURY – There’s no quit in this Shrewsbury Colonials team.
After falling behind early, Shrewsbury cobbled together enough offense and rallied to defeat the Algonquin Regional High School Titans by a score of 4-3 on Friday afternoon.
Shrewsbury sophomore Ryan Iagallo laced a single into right field for the walk-off victory.
It was all Algonquin to start the game. After two hits and two walks in the first inning, the Titans jumped out to an early 3-0 lead.
The Algonquin pitching, led by Alex Klein, kept Shrewsbury’s offense quiet. Klein limited the Colonials to one run over the first five innings.
The momentum shifted in the sixth. Four straight batters – Gavin Flynn, Iagallo, Kieren Ghidella and Drew Peris – registered hits, and Titan defensive mistakes gave the Colonials extra bases. By the end of the sixth, Shrewsbury had tied the game 3-3.
The Titans could not match the scoring. Shrewsbury pitchers Tristan Davidson and Ryan Walker were able to hold Algonquin scoreless throughout the final six innings.
Algonquin Head Coach Brian Doherty, frustrated by the outcome of the game, outlined the team’s struggles in no uncertain terms.
“Pitching, defense, [and] timely hitting,” he said. “We didn’t have good defense, and we didn’t have timely hitting – simple as that.”
Shrewsbury, on the other hand, continued to rally.
Colby Coghlin opened the seventh inning with a single, then Jack Kamin placed a perfect bunt and reached base safely. Iagallo stepped up to the plate with runners on first and second.
Iagallo’s line drive single to right field scored the winning run and gave the Colonials a hard-earned walk-off victory.
“I was just looking for a pitch to do my job and move the runners over,” Iagallo told the Community Advocate. “It took a couple of pitches – I swung and missed on one of them and fouled another one off – but I got the job done in the end.”
Excited about the win, teammates celebrated by chasing Iagallo into the outfield and mobbing him.
“I just got barraged by a bunch of guys,” Iagallo said. “It was fun though.”
In an interview after the game, Shrewsbury Head Coach Lee Diamantopoulos noted the team’s perseverance and toughness.
“It was almost a tale of two games. We were very slow to start, and it was very frustrating to see us; we made a few errors, and we didn’t have a lot of very good at-bats. We hung tough… we played all the way up until the very end, and we were able to scrap a few runs across. It was nice to see the guys compete when it mattered most at the end,” he said.
Diamantopoulos credited the team captains with keeping morale high even when the team was losing.
Algonquin falls to 2-3 on the season and will look to rebound against Auburn on Monday morning.
Shrewsbury, now 4-1, will head to Hudson on Tuesday to compete in the four-team John Ahearne Baseball Tournament.
“We’ll enjoy this now. We’ll keep ourselves grounded. We want to capitalize on things we’re doing well, learn from our mistakes, and play a more complete game on Tuesday,” Diamantopoulos said.
