Lexington Post 38 Shuts Out Somerville

A spread of dark clouds and a few rain drops didn't damper the drive of the Lexington Post 38 American Legion baseball team on Sunday afternoon.

Lexington beat Somerville Post 19 5-0 at running its District 5 record to 6-2. The team pulled away with three runs off of Somerville pitcher Tom Simas in the third inning.

Lexington's Tommy McKenna reached on a fierce hit to center field, but was then forced out on Nick Murray's groundball to the shortstop. With Murray on first and one out, Will Marcal smacked the ball over the fence in right field for a two-run home run.

Justin Silvestro kept the inning going when Somerville's second baseman fumbled his groundball. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and Scoop Ruxin capped the breakout inning with an RBI single. Nick Taylor struck out to end the inning.

Post 38 scored again in the sixth inning, this time against Somerville reliever Jake Dwyer. He walked the first two batters (erasing one with a pickoff), prompting a visit to the mound from Somerville coach Jim McCune. But the chat did little to help as McKenna reached on an error and Lexington added a run on a Murray single.

The trouble for Dwyer continued with a Marcal single and a walk to Silvestro on a full count to load the bases. Matt Wentzel also worked a full-count walk to force in Murray with the game's final run.

"(Lexington) battled at-bats, they came out on top," Lexington Coach Rick Deangelis said. "We had great pitching today. It came down to Will (Marcal) pitching very well."

Marcal went all seven innings without allowing a run.

He threw strikeouts in the first inning. In the second and third innings Marcal notched two quick strikeouts and allowed only four hits. In the fourth inning, he allowed three hits. In the fifth inning he struck one out and allowed two hits. In the sixth inning he walked one, allowed one hit, and got one strikeout. And in the seventh inning he allowed three hits and two walks.

Lexington also displayed some nifty defense.

In the third inning, with Somerville's Jimmy McCune at first and no outs, Sean Simas hit to second. Lexington's second baseman got McCune out at second, threw to first and the first baseman tagged Simas out to complete the double play.

In the fourth and fifth innings, Lexington's second baseman made three big plays. Matt O'Donnell's hit grounded past Marcal to the second baseman, who threw to first for the first out. Then Somerville's Eric O'Brien hit a popup, which the second baseman ran after and caught. Finally, Yondo Nyadjroh whipped the ball behind and to the left of the second baseman, who sprinted for the catch.

Lexington added another double play in the sixth inning. Somerville's Jimmy McCune walked to first with no outs. Then Simas hit to second and the second baseman tagged him out and threw to first for the second out. Marcal struck out Robert Taylor for the third out.

On the final play of the seventh, with two men on and two out, Mike Nicholson pounded the ball down the third-base line, but Lexington's Nick Taylor made a diving catch to record the final out and end the game.

"The team as a whole played really well," Deangelis said.