Sports
Burlington Falls to Masco 7-5 in Extra Innings
The Red Devils had no answer for Masco starter Ben Panunzio who was outstanding on the mound and at the plate and powered Masco to victory.
After a stellar regular season the baseball team ran into a one man wrecking crew by the name of Ben Panunzio from Masconomet on Thursday in its first round tournament game which the team lost 7-5 in extra innings.
Panunzio got the start on the mound and threw six and two thirds innings, striking out nine batters while allowing just two earned runs and scattering seven hits. He did even more damage at the plate where he hit a home run and a double knocking in four runs and scoring once himself.
Burlington took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when Chris Pessotti scored on an error by the Masco first baseman. Burlington starter Joe Yeadon made that lead hold up until the top of the third inning when Ethan Shernan scored on a delayed steal of home and Panunzio hit a sacrifice fly to score Corey Tudor making it 2-1.
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Burlington’s ace Yeadon was also very good in his final start throwing seven innings striking out six and surrendering just five hits.
Burlington took the lead back in the fifth when Kyle Shields, Pete McAnesspie and Harrison Smolskie all scored to give the Red Devils a 4-2 lead. Shields came home on a wild pitch before McAnesspie was singled home by Smolskie. Smolskie then came around to score on another error by the Masco first baseman.
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Masco tied the game up in its next turn at bat when Curtis Kowalski singled in Jayson Katz and Tudor.
The game remain tied until the top of the seventh when Panunzio homered to lead off the inning to give Masco a 5-4 lead.
Burlington would not go down without a fight as they responded by tying the game to send it into extra innings. Yeadon was the one who tied it up when he singled home Nick Ciradi with two outs.
Burlington brought on McAnesspie in relief in extra innings but he also could still not find a way to get Panunzio out. With two outs and two men on in the eighth Panunzio doubled to plate two runs and give Masco a 7-5 lead.
Jeff Daniels, on in relief of Panunzio, made the lead standup as he retired the side to give Masco the win.
Burlington finished the year with a 13-8 record which was good for fourth place in the Middlesex League. With the win Masco moves on to face Lynn Classical in the second round of the tournament.
