Wellesley Raiders' Baseball Falls to Sharon in the Quarterfinals, 4-0

The Wellesley High School varsity baseball team's offense has stealing home in its arsenal.

Monday, host  caught that runner and ultimately defeated the Raiders, 4-0, in a 2011 MIAA Baseball South Division 2 quarterfinal.

Sharon advances to the semi-final against top-seed Plymouth North, at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Adams Field in Quincy. The winner plays in the finals against Wednesday's Somerset-Milton semifinal.

Plymouth North defeated nine-seed Greater New Bedford, 8-5, in a quarterfinal Monday, according to the MIAA tournament bracket. Plymouth North received a first-round bye in the 12-team tournament after finishing the regular season 17-3.

Fourth-seed Sharon and fifth-seed Wellesley both finished the 2011 regular season at 15-5. The Raiders defeated 12-seed Falmouth, 8-4, in a first-round game last Thursday.

Monday, Wellesley's Kevin O'Brien reached first on a two-out infield single to third, and took third when Sharon southpaw David Roberto threw wildly to first, trying to pick him off. O'Brien took off for home with cleanup hitter Tim Superko up. But Roberto threw to catcher Mitchell Goldenberg, who tagged O'Brien out.

"We thought in that first inning by stealing home, it was going to put a little bit of pressure on them. We definitely thought the pitcher balked and there should have been a run and we should’ve been up 1-0. But we thought if we could score first, it changes the whole mindset," Raiders head coach Rob Kane said.

"We play a little bit of a different style of baseball. We come out and play hard.  We’re going to try our best and do different things that don’t commonly happen, and that’s part of our game plan. We’ve run it every single year. We’ve been successful with it in some cases and we’ve been unsuccessful in others. What can you do?”

Sharon scored first in the second.

David Zabinsky led off with a single to short, and stole second. Wellesley righty Dan Dymecki then struck out Jordan Aronson. Then, with Goldenberg at bat, Zabinsky took third on Dymecki's wild pitch, and scored on Goldenberg's line drive single to center.

The Eagles added two more in the third. Zabinsky's two-out double to center scored Sharon leadoff hitter Caleb Engelbourg from second; Engelbourg opened the inning with a single to left, and took second on Eric Tung's sacrifice bunt. Aronson's single down the third-base line scored Zabinsky for a 3-0 Sharon lead.

Sharon scored its final run in the fourth. Jake Dennis led off with a double. Jake Fishman then struck out as Dennis tried stealing third. Dennis scored when Wellesley catcher Stu Porter overthrew third.

Roberto, meanwhile, scattered six hits and one walk over seven innings and struck out nine, including the side in the seventh.

"It was a team effort. Winning the first game after a bye and not playing for almost a week, it's hard," Sharon head coach Joel Peckham said.

Dymecki allowed 10 hits and one walk over five innings. He struck out seven.

"He does a fantastic job," Kane said.

"Over the course of his career, he has five losses – and three of them are in the tournament."