Somerse Berkley baseball advances to Division 2 Sweet 16

SOMERSET — Jay Martin, in a pressure situation, couldn’t resist having a little fun at Mason Medeiros’ expense.

During a West Springfield coach-player conference at the pitcher’s mound in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday at James Sullivan Field, the Somerset Berkley Regional head coach joked to Medeiros that he would hit for him in the tied game, something Martin had actually done in a similar situation in the last game of the regular season.

“I never thought about it,” Martin said. “He’s one of my captains. I liked his at-bats up until that point. He had a hit earlier. He was on every pitch.”

Including the last one he saw on this bright sunny afternoon. With runners on second and third and two outs, Medeiros walked into a delivery from lefty Phil Curran and lined it to right-center for a two-run single that gave the Raiders (16- 5), the seventh seed, a 3-1 victory in the round of 32 state Division 2 baseball playoffs.

“I know it all comes to an end,” the senior center fielder said. “So I’m just going to try to go to the opposite field like I did the first at bat.”

Hayden Teasadle and Ben Jardin started the rally with two-run singles.

SBR will host No. 10 Norwood (13-8) in the round of 16 on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Raiders efficient win over no. 26 West Springfield (12-9) was a simple combination of a couple of big two-outs. hitting, strong pitching and stellar defensive play.

The pitching

Leadoff man Landon Richardson worked the first six innings, allowing four hits. Two of those hits — a single and Mike Mahan’s booming double to center — came with two outs in the top of the third inning and gave the Terriers a 1-0 lead. SBR got that run back in the bottom of the inning.

Throwing exclusively fastballs, Will Dionne struck out the side in the top of the seventh for the save.

“I have two horses, with Landon Richardson and Will Dionne,” Martin said. “Whenever I’m out there, we know we have a really good chance to win that day.”

The other big hit

Third baseman Alex Crook, a junior, tied the game in the bottom of the third with a two-out single to left, scoring Medeiros, who led off with a single and advanced to third on a bunt Camden Hoyle and a ground out.

“Alex Crook was quietly one of the best players on the team,” Martin said. “I say quiet because that’s who he is. It’s quiet. He makes every play. He can play any position in the infield. He hit all over the batting order this year and finished the season I think at .343.”

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Somerse Berkley baseball advances to Division 2 Sweet 16

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