More Bad Luck Befalls C-C Baseball

In a season seemingly filled with bad luck and worse bounces, the baseball was bitten by both yet again on Wednesday afternoon.

Trailing by two runs for most of their game against Bedford High School, the visiting Patriots tied the game in the top of the seventh inning, only to see the Buccaneers push the winning across in the bottom of the eighth for the 3-2 victory. The loss dropped C-C to a tough-luck 0-6 on the season.

“Four and maybe five out of the six games have been respectable,” Patriots coach John Kelly said. “There was some bad luck in the first game against Billerica, but after that we’ve played everybody well.”

Down two entering their final turn at bat, Andrew Della Volpe led off the top of the seventh inning with a single. The next batter, Nick Wnukowski, was hit by a pitch to make it first and second.

A subsequent bunt moved both runners in scoring position and Derrick Amodei cleared the bases and tied the game with a pinch-hit, two-run single.

“They’ve had a tough season and to see them battle back was nice to see,” Kelly said. “I was really proud of the team for how they handled it. They fought back and never gave up.”

But the good feelings didn’t last long, as Bedford had first and third in the eighth inning and pushed the winning run across with a single.

That was one of 10 hits allowed by Patriots starter Brandon Napolitano, who pitched well despite the loss, Kelly said. Napolitano pitched all 7 2/3 innings, didn’t walk a batter and struck out four. All three Bedford runs were earned.

On offense, the Patriots banged out five hits, all singles, of their own. They came from Della Volpe, Amodei, Gibson Holland, Aaron Nickelsberg and Brendan Canavan.

“We need to have multiple hits in a row,” Kelley said of what will help C-C turn the corner. “We seem to get hits too spread out.

“The Pitchers have a nice job and kept us in the games, we just can’t push the runs across,” he continued.

C-C will try to turn its luck around and pick up its first win of the season against Lincoln-Sudbury High School on Friday.