Redmen Bats Silenced In Opening Loss to Wilmington

With first pitch at 10 a.m. on Monday, the Wilmington baseball team’s bats woke up early. Unfortunately for Tewksbury High School, their bats didn’t follow suit.

Tewksbury batters struck out 15 times in their season opener as the Redmen couldn’t bounce back after the Wildcats took a 3-0 first inning lead.

Despite the sluggish start, the Redmen found themselves with the opportunity to escape with a win late in the game. Tewksbury put on two runners in the sixth inning and loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh inning, but couldn’t push home the tying runs.

“We left too many guys on base and struck out too many times,” said head coach Ron Drouin. “It wasn’t a train wreck. We’ve played a lot worse baseball games and won, and we’ve played a lot worse baseball games and lost. We were one check swing base hit away from tying the game.”

Zack DiRocco got the start on the mound for Tewksbury and pitched well following Wilmington’s initial push.

The team didn’t have much time before looking to bounce back. The Redmen were scheduled to take on Methuen on Tuesday at 10 a.m.

“Zack hung in there and gave us a chance to win,” said Drouin. “In the first inning when the horse got out of the barn, he settled down and helped us get back in the barn and gave us a chance to win. We just couldn’t make enough of our opportunities on offense.”