Sharon Comes Back, Downs Foxboro in Hock Finale

The Sharon High baseball team’s bats were impotent for much of Monday’s Hockomock League finale in Foxboro, and the visiting Eagles found themselves battling in yet another low-scoring, one-run ballgame.

Sharon received stellar relief work from seniors Kevin McLaughlin and Jake Fishman, and then the offense came alive late. The Eagles tallied a run in the top of the seventh to push the ballgame to extras and scored the winning run in the eighth to down the Warriors, 3-2.

“Great win,” said Sharon senior captain Colin Gray. “We were in a rut a little bit offensively. We came back, had a few key hits, and got the job done. K-Mac [McLaughlin] did a hell of a job coming from the bullpen; I was really impressed.”

Head Coach Joel Peckham said, “We’re still not hitting the ball the way we need to, but a win is a win. It’s nice to see us execute when we had to. Kevin - he did a great job. And Jake, of course, was unbelievable.”

Sharon opened the scoring in their first at-bat. Senior captain Brad Kaufman opened the contest with a solid single and stole second base. Kaufman came in to score on a Fishman RBI fielder’s choice.

Foxboro answered right back with Nick Cappadona’s RBI double in the bottom of the first. The Warriors took the lead in the third on a sacrifice fly. Pitcher Mike Pipher held Sharon scoreless from the second through the sixth innings.

McLaughlin relieved junior lefthander Will Ginsberg to open the fifth inning. McLaughlin threw strikes, and backed by excellent fielding from Kaufman and Co., the righthander allowed no hits in the fifth or sixth. Peckham said, “Having Kevin come in and stop them was really important.”

“K-Mac came in, in a role that he’s been all year, and he really shined today,” Gray said. “He got his pitches over, didn’t walk many guys, didn’t allow many key hits.”

Sharon still trailed, 2-1, entering the seventh inning. Gray’s one-out double to left-center gave the Eagles new life in the top of the seventh. “I hadn’t been hitting the ball as hard as I’ve wanted to. I finally got a hold of one. It got the job done,” Gray said.

Peckham says that he has been impressed with Gray’s leadership, particularly since the captain has been moved defensively the past couple of games from catcher to second base.

“Colin showed me a lot. I started [junior] Drew [Maidment] behind the plate, and [Gray] did a good job at second base. And he gets a big base hit. That was huge. That shows you – he’s a team guy. That’s why he’s a captain. That was really important,” Peckham said.

Following Gray’s double, sophomore Matt Shaffer singled. McLaughlin’s tapper brought Gray home from third base to tie the game at 2.

Foxboro threatened in the bottom of the seventh. After two quick outs, a single and a walk sent the middle of the Warriors’ lineup to bat with a chance to end the ballgame. But McLaughlin induced a grounder back to himself to escape the jam and keep the Eagles alive.

“I focused on pitching to contact, letting my team make the plays behind me,” McLaughlin said. “I'm very confident in everyone's ability to make the plays when it counts.”

With the game into extra innings, Fishman opened the top of the eighth with a marvelous bunt single down the third-base line. The captain then swiped second and advanced to third on junior Frank Sullivan’s single.

With one out, junior Michael Birschbach drove a ball to deep right field, allowing Fishman to sprint home without a throw. Gray said, “Big spots like Birschbach coming up with a huge sac fly – we’ve got to do things like that to make a run in the playoffs.”

After a Foxboro double to lead off the Warriors’ half of the eighth, Peckham called Fishman in from right field to attempt to finish off Foxboro.

Fishman, a lefthander, walked his first hitter. From there, Fishman fanned a batter and induced a pop-out to senior shortstop Eric Lesser and a fly-out to senior captain Brad Kaufman to secure the Sharon victory.

Fishman, who had been the starting pitcher in each of his prior appearances in 2013, earned his first save of the season. McLaughlin picked the victory for his 3+ innings of shutout ball. Peckham said, “We were very fortunate to have Jake [available] to come in at the end.

“I said to him before the inning, ‘Could I use you for one or two batters?’ I think he was a little shocked when I called him in with no outs. But I think we would’ve had a tough time winning the ballgame if he wasn’t on the mound,” Peckham added.

The Sharon victory guaranteed that the squad (11-8, 9-7 Hockomock) would finish with a winning record both overall and in the league, as well as improve the Eagles’ playoff seeding. “It makes us that much stronger as far as the tournament is concerned,” Peckham said.

“It's great to get a win in our last Hockomock game,” McLaughlin said. “We can use this momentum as we look to end the regular season with a win on Friday [vs. Plymouth South on Sharon’s Senior Day] and as we prepare for the playoffs.”