By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Northborough – For five-and-one-third innings of the second-seed Algonquin Regional High baseball team’s CMass Division 1 quarterfinal matchup versus visiting seventh-seed Wachusett Regional on Monday, it was as if Tomahawk standout pitcher Matt Geoffrion had cast a silent spell on his opponents’ bats. During that time, the University of Maine-bound Geoffrion and mates were cruising comfortably with a 2-0 lead that to many on hand seemed insurmountable.
But it was at that point that, somewhat inexplicably, the Mountaineer bats came alive to score three runs in the sixth inning to erase the seemingly-stable Tomahawk lead resulting in a stunning 3-2 defeat. The loss ends the 2016 campaign all too suddenly for Algonquin who conclude with a 15-6 record.
“I’m proud of this team. We have ten seniors that kept their focus,” said head coach Mike Mocerino post-game. “They fought and they worked extremely hard through the whole year. I feel bad for them because we came up on the short end of the stick. You hate to end it this way but unfortunately someone’s got to lose.
“We just didn’t do enough today. We left a couple of outs on the bases. We got up early and had a chance to tack on. We didn’t execute. They poked one through and it was just enough for them to get the ‘W’.”
Algonquin would score all of their runs on the day in the third inning when Nolan Kessinger opened with a free pass before catcher Ryan Grasso clubbed a double to centerfield that scored Kessinger. Alex Pappas singled to move Grasso to third. Andrew Tache then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Grasso.
The Tomahawks would flirt with further damage but were stifled in rally attempts by a quartet of Wachusett pitchers. Following the game, Mocerino had praise for his starting pitcher and his quarterfinal opponents.
“He’s our number one. He had a low pitch count. He settled right down,” he said of Geoffrion’s performance. “He had them off-balance the whole game and they still won the game.
“They’re (Wachusett) an extremely talented team. They’re well-coached. We knew we had an extremely tough fight on our hands. I don’t care what the seeds are. They fought hard and they’re going to go deep.”
As crushing as the opening playoff matchup was for Algonquin players, coaches and supporters, Mocerino sees a positive road ahead but would have been thrilled to see the team advance further for the departing seniors.
“The future looks good. I’m excited about the future,” he said. “We lose ten hard-working seniors. A couple of them are going on to play. This might be their last game but I really, really enjoy coaching these guys. But we have talent in the younger levels coming up and I’m really excited about the future. This program has had a strong tradition over the years and we’ll learn from this experience and come back strong next year”.
Photos/Jeff Slovin