Round One 'Down' for Westwood Baseball

The Westwood Wolverines baseball team snuck past the Latin Academy Dragons 10-9 Wednesday morning, advancing to the finals of the Russell Downs tournament for the second consecutive season. 

In its second year, the annual tournament honors legendary Westwood baseball coach Russell Downs, who finished his career with 322 wins. All games are held at downs field in Westwood, named after the Massachusetts Hall of Fame coach.

Downs was present for the game and threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Westwood catcher Sean Amaru.   

The Wolverines found themselves down right out of the gate, as Brendan Skehill allowed two first-inning runs.

Skehill settled down however for the time being, giving up only one run over the next three frames as the offense found its rhythm. Glenn Parsons racked up a triple and a single, and had two RBI and two runs scored in his first two at-bats, as Westwood took an 8-3 lead into the fourth. 

Skehill retired the first batter he faced in the top of the fifth, but allowed three consecutive base runners, ultimately leading to a five-run inning and a tie score at eight. 

“He did the best he could for four innings and in the fifth it just caught up with him,” said Westwood head coach Brian Whelan. “It was a combination of a few things - fatigue and facing the lineup for the third time - but he’s gutsy; he’s a tough kid and he worked hard.”

Latin Academy’s rally was capped off by a Juan Moretta two-run double as they batted around for the first time in the ballgame. Dragons’ head coach Anthony Bernazzani talked about the fight his team showed and the effort they gave all morning. 

“We put ourselves in a hole early and that’s tough to do against a good team like Westwood," Bernazzani said, "but I appreciate the fact that our guys dug deep and didn’t take themselves out of the game.”

Latin Academy tacked on one more in the top of the sixth off reliever Nick Henderson, but not to be outdone by the heart of the Westwood order in the bottom half.

Three straight hits by Will Smith, Sean Amaru and Brett Egizi gave the Wolverines the lead for good, as Smith, who is normally a starting pitcher, came in for the seventh in a rare save opportunity. 

“We were back and forth whether or not to bring him in, but we needed the win and Will gave us the best chance,” Whelan said. 

Smith allowed just one hit in a scoreless inning of relief to pick up the save. Henderson picked up his first career win despite allowing two hits and a run in 1 1/3 innings. 

Westwood takes on Norwell Thursday at 1pm in a rematch of last year's final, a game the Wolverines lost 4-2.