Drury Falls in State Semi-Finals
WORCESTER, Mass. – The Boston English baseball team Wednesday scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a tie and went on to a 9-7 win over Drury in the Division 4 State Tournament semi-finals at Holy Cross.
Armanis Romero went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs at the plate and threw 5 and two-thirds innings of one-run relief to earn the win on the mound for the Eagles, who overcame a 5-0 deficit with five runs in the bottom of the first inning.
After getting five hits, including a two-run single from Brayden Durant, in the top of the first inning, Drury scored just two more runs the rest of the way after Romero took over for English starter Manny DeJesus to start the second.
“We came out, we found some barrels, and we had a nice approach early on,” Drury coach Rob Jutras said. “And we had some chances. We were knocking on the door. We didn’t quite get the hit that we needed.
“We were just constantly adjusting. These guys never stop knocking on the door, never stopped giving themselves chances, and we just ran out of time.”
Boston English responded with five hits and five runs of its own in the bottom of the first.
The big blow was an RBI double from Matthew Guerrero, who later scored on Yeduary Soto’s single down the left-field line.
Hinknell ended the first with a called third strike to strand a runner in scoring position and picked up eight more of his 10 strikeouts the rest of the way, allowing just one more earned run.
“Connor fought his rear end off,” Jutras said. “And they were on the fastball early, and he made adjustments. And he never quit and took it pitch by pitch, inning by inning and gave us a chance.
“And that’s just the competitor that he is, the leader that he is. He didn’t blink for a second, and he just kept finding solutions, kept finding solutions and gave us a chance.”
The teams were tied, 6-6, going to the bottom of the sixth.
That is when second-seeded English caught a break with a leadoff error that opened the door to a three-run rally.
Romero had an RBI single with two out to give his team a 9-6 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Durant hit a one-out double and scored on Colby Malloy’s RBI single to right, but the Blue Devils could not move Malloy off first base.
Durant went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Lucas Hamilton and Noah Arnold each had a pair of hits for the Blue Devils.
Drury finishes the season with a Western Massachusetts Championship and a 19-4 record.
Malloy and James Varellas are the lone seniors who graduate from the Drury program, which has gone 36-9 with two Western Mass finals in the last two years.
“I can’t wait to go chase this thing again,” Jutras said. “I’ve got the best players in the world, and I can’t wait to go chase it with them.”