Lexington Baseball Upset By Lowell

Lexington High School was bitten by the law of baseball averages.

Having already played Lowell High four times – twice in the preseason and twice more during the regular season – the Minutemen and Red Raiders met again in the first round of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) North Division I state tournament on Saturday.

After winning the first four meetings, Lexington couldn't pull out victory in the one that mattered most, despite having several chances to complete the sweep.

Seventeenth-seeded Lowell rallied twice, once from four runs down and the other from one down late in the ninth inning, to beat the No. 1 Minutemen 7-5 in 10 innings (state tournament contests are nine-inning games).

"There's no secrets between the two teams," Lexington Coach Tom O'Grady said, after his team was eliminated from the playoffs. "We knew they weren't going to give up. We knew they are a quality team. Even though we've beaten them four times, we certainly respected our opponent."

One of the previous four meetings between the teams was a 10-0 Lexington victory in the regular-season finale on May 28, just eight day's before Saturday's matchup.

"When you're around this game as long as I've been, and you watch a lot of baseball, probably the odds were against us," O'Grady said of playing one team so many times. "You take your best Major League Baseball team and put them up against the worst Major League Baseball team and play five times. The best team probably isn't going to win all five. That's just baseball."

The Minutemen, the Middlesex League champions, finish the season with an 18-3 record. Lowell (11-9) moves on to Monday's quarterfinals to take on Newton South.

All of Lowell's runs were scored in the final four innings, including two runs each in the seventh, eighth and 10^th innings.

Red Raider left fielder Matt Roberge tied the game at 5-all in the ninth inning with a double off Lexington sophomore reliever Nick Murray. Andrew Marasa had reached on a single and scored from first on Roberge's two-base hit.

Murray was back on the mound for the 10^th inning and surrendered the go-ahead and an insurance run. Lowell's Costa Tingas had an RBI single and RJ Noel drove in the insurance run on a fielder's choice.

Lexington appeared poised to tie the game once again in the bottom of the 10^th.

Junior Demi Monovoukas (two walks and two runs scored) hit a long fly ball to left with junior Ben Ruxin on first after he worked a walk. But the threat was stifled when Roberge hauled in the drive with a nice over-the-shoulder catch before he crashed into the mesh temporary outfield fence.

"It was a great high school baseball team," O'Grady said. "Unfortunately we came out on the short side of it."

Not to be forgotten amid the disappointing loss is the fine performance by Lexington junior starting pitcher Will Marcal. He had a perfect game going through 4 2/3 innings and pitched eight innings for the no decision. The left-hander struck out five, walked two, and allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits.

Noel broke up Marcal's perfect game with a single to right field with two outs in the fifth inning.

At the plate, Marcal and sophomore first baseman Chris Shaw each walked twice and had a single. Shaw also scored a run.

Ruxin reached base three times with two singles and a walk and scored a run. Sophomore designated hitter/catcher Connor Murray smacked a two-run single to open the game's scoring in the fourth inning.

Lexington went on top 4-0 with two more runs on Ruxin's RBI single and a wild pitch in the fifth inning. The Minutemen's final run came on Nick Murray's RBI single in the eighth to give the home team a short-lived 5-4 lead.