Medford Americans shut down by Casey, Watertown

While deforestation usually isn’t at the forefront of Kevin Burgoyne’s mind, the Medford Americans manager has got to be asking himself what happened to all the lumber last night.

The Americans managed just three hits and fell 2-0 at the hands of moundsman Brian Casey and the Watertown Reds in Intercity League baseball action at a dandelion-strewn Playstead Park. Medford saw only one baserunner get as far as second base during the game, and it took a throwing error on the Reds to get him there, as Watertown’s starter thoroughly befuddled the Americans' batsmen.

Casey, the 2010 ICL co-player of the year, fired a complete game, striking out nine, while allowing Medford just two baserunners on the evening. With the win he improves to 2-3 on the season with 26 strikeouts.

“In this league, with the wooden bats, you just have to establish a pitch down the zone,” said Casey, a former Tufts University hurler. “The guys made plays behind me and it was just a great team effort. It takes nine guys to win; they put the runs across, played some defense, and that’s baseball.”

Getting the ball for the Americans (4-9) was Ryan McNiff (0-2), who pitched a good game, all told, but was the victim of some early control problems. The right-hander went six and two-thirds innings, surrendering two runs on eight hits while issuing four free passes.

“McNiff worked his way out of a couple of jams and did a great job tonight,” said Burgoyne of his starter. “We couldn’t have asked for more from him, we just couldn’t get to Casey.”

For the Americans, the lack of offensive output is a familiar story this season. Medford has been shut out on four occasions, and struggled to provide run support for its excellent pitching staff.

“We just haven’t been hitting the ball, that’s our problem,” Burgoyne said. “Our staff has been fantastic all year, we just haven’t been supporting them. We’ve been shutout four times, we’ve scored one run once or twice, so once we start hitting the ball, we’ll be alright.”

The Reds (5-9) took advantage of two walks in the top of the second—after stranding a pair in the first—and DH Colby Mattheson drove in the games first run, plating Steve Busby with a double to give Watertown the early edge.

“We only had nine guys today,” Busby said. “But our pitching was good and we played solid defense. We had a couple of timely clutch hits, and that was the ballgame.”

The Reds threatened in the top of the fifth, bookending a strikeout with a pair of singles and had runners at the corners with one away, when Ryan Nicholas hit into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play, that was deftly turned by the Americans. Second baseman Marcus Ulian started the sequence, making a nice play on a hotly hit ground ball, and flipped to shortstop Jose Polanco, who relayed to James McConville at first base to retire the side and keep the Americans within one.

The score remained 1-0 in favor of the visitors until the sixth inning, when Busby and Justin Forman led off the stanza with back-to-back singles. Luke Begley grounded out to first base, both runners advanced, and Steve Tramontozzi brought Busby around with a sacrifice fly to left field, giving the Reds a 2-0 lead, which they would not relinquish.

“We’re trying to put a couple of games together here,” Casey said. “Just get ourselves into the playoffs and see what happens.”

The Americans offense was supplied by Polanco, Ulian and Mike Kalfopoulos, who all collected singles, while Watertown was led by Mattheson, who was 2-for-3 with a single and a double. Begley, Sean Callahan-Montague, Nicholas, Forman, Busby and Tramontozzi all singled for the Reds as well.

Medford plays again on Friday, as they travel to face the league-leading Lexington Blue Sox on Friday, while the Reds face the Blue Sox tomorrow in Watertown.