Kings of the Diamond

The baseball team has certainly had a flair for the dramatic this postseason.

For the third time during the playoffs, the fourth-seeded Pioneers needed a late game rally to pull out a victory from the jaws of defeat. Against seventh-seeded Westborough, St. John’s dug itself a multi-run hole through six innings only to strike for three runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth on its way to a 5-3 win in the finals of the Central Mass. Division 1 Tournament at Tivnan Field at Lake Park.

With the win the Pioneers (19-7) capture their ninth Central Mass title and advance to the State Tournament to take on Western Mass champion Minnechaug, a 9-2 winner over East Longmeadow on Monday. The State Semifinal matchup is scheduled to be played back at Tivnan Field on Wednesday night.

“If you have to lose a district championship to an opponent Westborough would be the team to do it. They are a classy team and classy program,” said St. John’s skipper Charlie Eppinger. “When we were down early in the game, we were fighting against a lot of different elements and were trying to stay together. We battled and got some big hits down the stretch when we needed them. It allowed us to get the momentum back.”

Picking up the win on the mound was junior reliever Anthony Perry, who took over for starting pitcher Mike Badjo in the sixth inning. Perry worked two scoreless innings before giving way to Ben White to slam the door over the final two frames.

The Pioneers found themselves trailing 3-1 after six innings as the Rangers gave St. John’s all it could handle. Westborough struck for a single run in the top of the second inning to draw first blood before the Pioneers answered with a single run of their own in the third inning on an RBI single from Curtiss Pomeroy scoring Keith Kelly after he reached base courtesy of a one-out walk.

Westborough reclaimed the lead with two runs in the fifth off Badjo and the St. John’s defense to grab a 3-1 lead.

That was the way things stayed until the home half of the seventh inning when the Pioneers exploded with three runs to claim a 4-3 lead. Nick Seiber opened the inning by reaching on an error. He later came around to score, along with Jimmy Smith, on a two double courtesy of AJ Zarozny to left center field. Zarozny would come around to score as well thanks to an RBI single from Tom Petry to give the Pioneers the lead.

St. John’s added an insurance run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Dan Light, who opened the inning with an infield hit before stealing second and third base.

Against White, the Rangers’ offense tried to put together a rally. With one out in the ninth, Matt Shunney singled to left field to bring the tying run to the plate in Paul Iasiello. However, White buckled down and struck out Iasiello swinging before getting Taylor Spaulding to hit a comebacker to the mound for the game’s final out.