has been playing much better baseball this year opposed to years past. No one will doubt that.
They have great relief pitching and they have a middle of the lineup that can pound the baseball. Unfortunately, if you can’t score runs, it can all be for naught, as was the case Monday afternoon against Natick.
The Marauders dropped a tough one to the Red and Blue, 5-4 at and the nemesis this time was Dedham’s inability to score runs with men in scoring position.
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Another factor was Natick closer Mike Pemett, who came in relief in the eighth inning and squelched a Dedham rally before closing the door in the ninth for the five-out save.
"We were really happy with the effort of Mike Pemett in the last couple of innings," said Natick manager Josh Hanna.
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Dedham also had the misfortune of two questionable calls that cost the Marauders two runs and would certainly have swung the game results in the other direction.
With the bases loaded in fourth for Natick and one out, the umpires awarded a walk to Natick senior K.P. Mckenna, after what appeared to the Dedham bench as only three balls in the count. The walk to Mckenna forced in a run for the Red and Blue, who scored three runs that inning to give them a 4-2 lead.
After a bases-loaded walk by Dedham starter Dan O’Connor to make it 5-2, the Marauders were able to rally in the bottom half of the inning.
Dedham’s Cam Clifford led off with a double down the right field line, and was followed with three singles from the heart of the Marauders' order by O’Connor, Matt Barron and Domingo Rodriguez, to make it 5-4 after four innings
After a scoreless fifth, thanks to a stellar acrobatic catch by Natick center fielder Brian Dellorfon on a Tommy Connolly liner that had extra bases written all over it, the Marauders ran into ‘tough’ luck in the sixth.
After O’Connor singled off Natick reliever George Kakiounis, Barron was called out at first on a bang-bang play that could have been called the other way. O’Connor and Rodriguez were left stranded, two of the 20 Marauders left on base.
"Unfortunately, we didn’t get the big hit when we needed to," said Dedham manager Kevin Quaranto. "We had the right guys up there, just got unlucky today, nothing fell."
"We’ve been playing pretty good, we just need to capitalize with men on base," said Barron.
Natick's pitching held up thanks to starter Derek Kane, Kalsiounis and Pemett.
"We got to start capitalizing," emphasized Barron.
