Wahconah Rallies Past McCann Tech in Regular Season Finale
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- Ty Cowdrey singled to right with two out in the top of the seventh Monday night to drive in two runs and give the Wahconah baseball team a 3-1, come-from-behind victory over McCann Tech at Joe Wolfe Field.
Wahconah (14-6) scored three unearned runs in the seventh to erase a 1-0 deficit and spoil a sterling effort from McCann Tech freshman Dalton Tatro.
Will Genaway earned the win with an even stronger performance, allowing just three hits and one unearned run in a complete-game victory as Wahconah won its third straight going into Tuesday’s Western Massachusetts tournament seeding.
Both these teams are heading to the tournament. McCann Tech, which saw a four-game winning streak come to an end, finishes the regular season 15-5.
The winning rally Sunday started when Pat Butler reached on an error on a ground ball to the infield. He stole second and moved up pinch-hitter Anthony DonDiego singled to right to put runners at the corners for Austin Cancilla.
That ended the night for Tatro, who left with seven strikeouts in six-plus innings of work.
Cancilla’s sac fly to center field tied the game at 1-1, bringing No. 9 hitter Dane Campbell to the plate with a man on first and one out.
After failing to get the bunt down to move DonDiego into scoring position, Campbell ripped a double down the third base line instead.
“Unfortunately, the bunt didn’t work, and we kind of tipped our hand,” Wahconah coach Rob Cowdrey said. “So we said, ‘Alright, let him swing away,’ and he comes up with a huge hit for us.”
Campbell’s double put men at second and third, but reliever Robert Matte III got the second out on a ground ball to the right side, leaving both men in scoring position for Ty Cowdrey.
He dropped a single into right field that was bobbled, allowing both Don Diego and Campbell to score without a throw.
The teams combined for four errors, and all four runs were unearned on a night when both sides battled with a persistent mist and a field left soggy by the morning’s downpour.
“The field was in rougher shape,” Rob Cowdrey said. “If anything, it was just the balls being wet, they’re a little heaver. They skip a little differently. So I think the conditions played quite a bit with it.
“But we certainly did not come out with a lot energy like we need to. Hopefully, we can change that going into the tournament this week.”
McCann Tech also learned a valuable lesson going into the post-season.
“As a team, I just told them, when we’re playing good teams like we will in Western Mass, the routine plays have to be clean and they have to be made,” Hornets coach Pat Ryan said.
It was Wahconah that did not make routine play early to allow the hosts to grab a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first, an outfield error after Caleb Rondeau’s one-out single allowed Rondeau to get to third, where he scored on Rob Pecor’s RBI groundout.
For a while, it looked like that was all the offense Tatro needed.
The freshman threw strikes all night long, walking just one batter and striking out a pair with men on second and third to end a Wahconah threat in the top of the sixth.
“When he does go 3-1, he battles back,” Ryan said of the rookie southpaw. “If I look at the scorebook, the two or three games he pitched, nothing but strikes, constant strikes. We had Wahconah a little off-balance today with their at-bats, but he just got a little tired at the end. It was time to take him out.”
Cowdrey was impressed by the youngster.
“We’re a decent team, and he struck us out quite a bit,” the Wahconah coach said. “They’re lucky because they’re going to be sitting pretty for the next couple of years.”