Westwood Pushes Unbeaten Medfield to Brink, Falls in 7th

The Westwood High School baseball team gave Tri-Valley League unbeaten Medfield all it could handle Monday at Curt Schilling Field before falling 5-4 – but not without plenty of drama.

The Wolverines (7-9, 6-7) trailed the Warriors (13-1, 13-0) for six innings before plating two runs in the top of the seventh off of the TVL’s best pitcher in Medfield’s Mike Keleher to tie the game at four.

“(Keleher) is the best pitcher in the league, stats wise and everything else supposedly so I was pleased to see that [effort] against him," said Westwood head coach Brian Whelan. "Obviously we would have liked to have a different outcome but it's alright, we will keep battling. We are headed in the right direction."

Trailing by two in the top of the seventh against the TVL’s best pitcher, the odds were stacked against Westwood. But the Wolverines showed character and grit by manufacturing two runs to tie the game at four.

“The kids are good,” said Whelan. “They’re resilient, they’re tough, they’ll bounce back next game so we’ll see what happens. [Medfield] is an undefeated team in our league and we battled, good for our guys.”

Westwood’s Costa Toubekis struck out to begin the seventh, but Matt Nagle drew a walk and advanced to second base on a passed ball. Brett Egizi beat out a groundball to put runners on first and third with one out. Alex Berluti followed with a walk and Chris Treon, who pinch ran for Nagle, scored from third on a passed ball to pull the Wolverines within one, 4-3.

Matt Cannon joined the action with a walk of his own as Keleher loaded the bases with one out. Glenn Parsons then grounded to Medfield’s shortstop, who flipped over to second base for one out but the throw to first was too late and another run scored to tie the game at four. Will Smith grounded out to shortstop to retire the side but Westwood had new life.

That life didn’t last long, however as Medfield like it had done most of the game, responded in the bottom half of the inning.

Westwood starter Smith walked Medfield’s Jim Magrath to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning. Keleher then lined a hard grounder to third base and Magrath beat the force out at second as both runners were called safe. Smith then hit Medfield catcher Will Cousins square in the back to load the bases with no outs and Medfield TJ Valente stood in the batter’s box and delivered the game-winning hit for the Warriors, a single over the shortstop’s head into left field. Ball game.

“(Keleher) is good,” said Whelan. “He mixes the ball up. Kids didn’t know what was coming and the kid is a good pitcher. I like him and I like their shortstop (Jim Magrath) he’s a good player. They got good players, there’s a reason they’re 13-1 and undefeated in the league, they’re good.”

Westwood fell behind Medfield early after the Warriors scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the first inning to go up 1-0. The Wolverines responded immediately in the top of the second off Medfield starter Corey Chung as the Warriors infield committed two errors in the inning that resulted in a run for WHS, tying the game at one apiece.

The Warriors responded in the bottom of the second as the first two batters of the inning reached base off Westwood's Smith and MHS shortstop Jim Magrath singled through the infield to score John Buchanan and give the Warriors a 2-1 lead.

Medfield increased its lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the third on a triple by Buchanan that scored Will Cousins from first base. Westwood showed resiliency however and got a run back in the top of the fifth in the form of a towering home run from Toubekis that hit the Warriors’ scoreboard in right field to close the deficit to 3-2.

Chung was pulled after walking Westwood’s Nagle and replaced by Keleher, who proceeded to strike out the side and get Medfield out of the inning with just the one run allowed.

The Warriors added an insurance run ­– at the time – in the bottom of the fifth as Keleher opened the inning with a double and beat out a pickle between second and third base. Cousins knocked him in from third to give Medfield a 4-2 lead.

After a scoreless sixth, Westwood responded with two in the seventh before falling in the bottom of the frame.

Will Smith finished with four strikeouts in six innings and four runs allowed. Keleher earned the win, striking out six in three innings of relief.

The Wolverines will continue its quest for a state tournament berth Wednesday on the road in Norton for a 3:45 p.m. game.