Mounties Make Round of 32 in Division 5

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Mason Canata gave up two hits and one run in four innings of work on the mound Friday as the Mount Greylock baseball team beat Keefe Tech, 15-3, in a Division 5 State Tournament preliminary round game on Steve Messina Field.

 

Cam Miller went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to pace the offense as the Mounties (9-11) won for the fourth time in five games and earned a spot in the tournament’s Round of 32 against second-seeded English HIgh School of Boston (17-5).

 

Although the outcome was never in doubt after the Mounties scored eight in the bottom of the fourth to take a 15-1 lead, the visiting Broncos had the upper hand early.

 

A leadoff walk, a stolen base and an RBI single to right from Keefe Tech’s Joey Secatore gave the visitors a 1-0 lead with nobody out.

 

But Canata got the next two hitters on the first of his five strikeouts and, after another walk, got a groundout to Malcolm Leyda at short to end the inning.

 

“I was just telling him, ‘I think you were one pitch away from getting pulled. And then you came back,’ “ Mount Greylock coach Rick Paris said of Canata. “You got the guy, so you got to stay in. Then, all of a sudden, you found your groove and you were throwing well.

 

“The first inning, [Canata] was maybe a little nervous or whatever it was. He was throwing really well in the bullpen, too, coach said.”

 

Canata’s offense rewarded him with three runs in the bottom of the first to erase the early deficit.

 

Everett Bayliss led off with a bunt single, and Canata was hit by a pitch to put two runners on for Jameson Bayliss, who launched a triple to center field to make it a 2-0 game.

 

Jameson Bayliss then came home on an RBI groundout from Miller.

 

In the third inning, a walk, a hit batter and a bunt single by Leyda set the stage for the Mounties, who cashed in on a couple of errors and got a two-run single from Canata to stretch their lead to 7-0.

 

The wheels came off defensively for Keefe Tech in the fourth.

 

The Broncos committed four errors and gave up a run on a pitch that got to the backstop as Mount Greylock scored eight times to put the game away.

 

Jameson Bayliss and Emery Rotter finished up on the mound for Canata, giving up just one earned run between them.

 

After a mid-season, six-game losing streak to drop to 5-10, Mount Greylock has been solid over the last two weeks, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 35-16 and improving to 9-11.

 

And after winning a play-in game and then beating the No. 7 seed in the state on the road in last year’s State Tournament, Paris said anything is possible on Sunday.

 

But, no matter what happens from here on out, Paris is pleased to see his young Mounties build some confidence in the final weeks of the season.

 

“I’ve got young guys in the field,” he said. “I’ve got an eighth-grader starting at shortstop. So experience in a playoff atmosphere is huge. I’ve got a sophomore over here at second base. So that’s huge for us.

 

“Going forward, it’s great experience for these guys. And I know it’s going to be tough. We’re going to play a No. 2 seed, but you know what? You never know. You pitch strikes, you make plays, you do the little things. That’s what wins baseball games.”