LHS Wins Baseball Tourney Opener

As was the case with the rest of his teammates, the memory of last year’s First Round loss was still fresh in the mind of senior pitcher Will Marcal when he took the mound Saturday for this year’s baseball sectional tournament opener.

Determined to do all he could to avoid another bitter upset, the Middlesex League’s co-MVP turned in a spectacular performance by pitching all nine innings of the MIAA North Division 1 First Round contest against Westford Academy. Marcal picked up the shutout in No. 1 Lexington’s 5-0 victory.

The win came exactly 364 days after LHS, then the top seed as well, blew a lead against Lowell High School and was eventually , then the No. 17 seed, in 10 innings.

“Our approach wasn’t any different, we just wanted to get the monkey off our back from last year,” LHS coach Tom O’Grady said. “I quite honestly think that loss last year in the first round of the tournament is what provided us, the kids and the team, with the drive they have this year.”

No one around the Minutemen (21-0) wanted to see another double-digit seed -- the Grey Ghosts were also the No. 17 -- celebrating on the field at LHS again.

“This is exactly what we needed,” Marcal said. “We’ve been waiting for this game for about a good year.”

Now, the Minutemen move on to Monday’s Quarterfinal matchup with No. 8 Acton-Boxboro High School. The Colonials ousted Lowell, this year’s No. 9 seed, 3-0 in the First Round on Saturday afternoon.

Monday’s game is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the high school.

Marcal was nothing short of stellar against Westford Academy (11-11). He threw 122 pitches to complete the nine-inning playoff game and struck out 14 Grey Ghosts, while allowing just four hits and a single walk.

“The thing that impressed me the most about Will was his control,” O’Grady said. “He just really located the ball well. That’s what he’s been the last few years.”

Despite issuing a walk to his counterpart, Westford starter Mark Cornelius, in the first inning, Marcal faced the minimum number of batters until giving up a single up the middle to Adam Ciampa in the sixth inning. It was Westford’s first hit.

Nine of Marcal’s 14 strikeouts came during the first five innings. He struck out the side in the fifth and set down two Westford batters by way of the strikeout in the first, second and third innings. He also recorded two strikeouts in the ninth inning to seal the victory.

“He was mixing pitches good and he had us off-balance,” WA coach Corey Roman said. “He’s a good pitcher. You got to put the ball in play, but he had quite a few strikeouts. He got it past our hitters and that’s what good pitchers do.”

Ciampa’s single was just the second ball to leave the infield. One batter before, Tim Orton flew out to Lexington right fielder Scoop Ruxin. To that point, strikeouts aside, Marcal recorded all groundball outs: two to shortstop and one each to himself, second base and first base. There was also the pick off of Cornelius in the first inning.

Even in the late innings, when it appeared Marcal began to tire, just four balls reached the outfield grass. Ben Lawson doubled in the seventh, Cornelius and Ciampa singled in the ninth and Christian Prusaczyk flew out to Ruxin in the ninth.

“I wasn’t trying to throw as hard to start off,” Marcal said, of his approach to the nine-inning game. “With seven innings it’s a much quicker game. With nine innings, I was just trying to establish the strike zone and get it in there.”

And his teammates picked him up at the plate. It wasn’t anything flashy, but the Minutemen’s offense got the job done with timely hits and taking advantage of opportunities when they arose.

Lexington scored a run apiece in the third-sixth innings and tacked on its final run on a home run by senior Demitri Monovoukas (3-for-4, two RBIs, two runs) in the eighth inning.

In all, the Minutemen touched Cornelius and reliever Will Alden for 11 hits. It also helped that the Grey Ghosts committed some costly errors, as two of Lexington’s runs against Cornelius were unearned. He pitched into the sixth inning, surrendering six hits and four runs while also recording four strikeouts and two walks.

Lexington got on the scoreboard in the third when first baseman Chris Shaw, who shared Middlesex League MVP honors with Marcal, singled to right field. Shortstop Nick Murray’s run was unearned, however, as Marcal had reached one batter before on an error with two outs.

The Minutemen added their second run the following inning on an RBI single by Monovoukas, and Lexington scored another unearned run in the fifth when Ruxin (2-for-3, two walks) scored thanks to an error. Again it was Shaw who didn’t get credit for an RBI. He drove a ball deep to the out field that was dropped by Westford center fielder Mike Bibinski.

“We hit some balls and we had a couple breaks, but (Westford) made a couple great plays defensively,” O’Grady said.

Second baseman Levi Mattingly drove in Lexington’s fifth run with a single to score Monovoukas in the sixth inning. The Minutemen looked poised to add a few runs in the inning, but both center fielder Matt Sharma and Mattingly were cut down trying to score, both with Ruxin at the plate. Sharma got caught in a rundown and Mattingly was thrown out at home by Bibinski when Ruxin eventually singled up the middle.

But the baserunning mistakes didn’t come back to haunt Lexington, as Monovoukas’ homer the next inning all but put the finishing touches on the tournament victory.

“I was really happy that we got guys on, got them over and got them in,” Marcal said.

Unlike the Minutemen, Westford couldn’t overcome its mistakes, and Roman said it’s nearly impossible to beat a team like Lexington when that happens.

“(Cornelius) missed some spots with a few pitches and a good team will take advantage of that, and (Lexington) did,” he said. “We didn’t help him out with a few errors, but our team battled. We hung in there, but it’s just unfortunate that we faced a really good pitcher who deserves the accolades that he’s received.”