Norwood Defeated by Wellesley Saturday, Heading in to Tournament Next Week

Any baseball coach will tell you that as the season ends you want to be playing your best game.

For Norwood, who finished the season (10-10) after a 8-3 loss to the Wellesley Raiders on Saturday night at Wall Field, Coach Sweeney and the Mustangs are excited as the boys prepare for a Division 1 tournament run

The team won five of their last seven games to qualify for the tournament.

Their last win was a 5-4 victory over the talented Hawks of Xaverian, where Sean O’Neil and James Bussiere combined to shut down the Hawks for the tournament qualifying win. Shortstop Austin Glaser also had a big two-run knock early on that the Mustangs were able to hold on to for their 10th win this season.

Bussiere was again on the mound for the Mustangs against the talented and aggressive Wellesley team, who with the win move to an impressive 15-5 overall record, with five straight wins in their final week of baseball that has their coach singing praises.

“Fifteen wins does a lot for you,” said Wellesley manager Rob Kane. “It gives you a chance of a top five seed in the Division 2 tournament. Fifteen wins also means you are not riding the bus for a little while.”

A top five seed will give the Raiders a chance to host one or possibly two tournament games, something they haven’t been able to do in the last five years under Kane.

In Saturday’s game, Bussiere was the starter and he pitched well, going five innings giving up four hits while fanning four Raiders. “Buss” also left with a 3-1 Norwood lead after five, and was on a short pitch count after pitching against Xaverian.

The Raiders picked one up in the sixth on a single by senior Kevin O’Brien to make it a 3-2 game.

And the Raiders were not done there.

In the seventh, aggressive base running and the use of Coach Kane’s “small ball” approach forced Norwood into two errors, which led to two more runs. John Picking added an RBI single, and Brian McMahon added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-3 Wellesley after seven.

The Raiders Dan Dymecki was the star of the game, pitching seven innings for the win and smacking a three-run home run in the top of the ninth for the 8-3 final.

“I knew today that 15 would be a big win,” said Dymecki. “I knew coming in that Norwood was a good team, they hit me around the last time I faced them, but if I came out and executed my pitches and threw strikes and have the defense play behind me, we’d do well.”

Norwood will rebound from their latest defeat and focus on getting their pitching staff and defense in order for next week's tournament start. Everyone around Norwood is fully aware of what Xaverian did last year in the tournament with a (10-10) record going all the way to the state final.

“If we put our best pitching, hitting and defense together we can absolutely play with anyone,” said Norwood skipper James Sweeney. "They just have to have that attitude."

For Wellesley, Coach Kane is ready to write a new chapter in the post-season.

“We are sick of losing,” said Kane. "We hope to make it enjoyable over the next three weeks.”