Taconic Baseball Comes Back to Advance Past Mount Greylock

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Leo Arace went 2-for-3 with a double and three runs batted in Wednesday to lead the Taconic baseball team to a 12-2 win over Mount Greylock in the quarter-finals of the Western Massachusetts Division 3 tournament.

 

Bo Bramer and Evan Blake also went 2-for-3 in a 10-hit attack for the reigning state champions, who had to come back from an early 2-0 deficit.

 

In the top of the first, Oscar Low hit a rocket down the third base line and Derek Paris crushed a 2-0 pitch over the fence in center field to put Mount Greylock ahead.

 

It stayed 2-0 until Taconic rallied for five runs in the bottom of the third.

 

Taconic took the lead on a two-out RBI single by Evan Blake and never looked back.

 

Anton Lazitz earned the win on the mound with 11 strikeouts over five innings. Sam Sherman threw one inning of no-hit relief to finish out the game.

 

Paris struck out five and allowed just six earned runs in five innings for the Mounties, who threw Jackson Shelsey in the sixth.

 

“Derek pitched a great game but unfortunately missed opportunities and then a few errors and botched plays cost us too many to recover from,” Mount Greylock coach Rick Paris said.

 

“I just can't say it enough about these kids, they play the game the right way, win or lose. They should be very proud of themselves. We had a great season and unfortunately it came to an end earlier than we wanted.”

 

Seventh-seeded Mount Greylock finishes the year 10-6.

 

No. 2 Taconic (15-0) moves on to Friday’s semi-final against Southwick-Tolland (11-5), a 12-2 winner over South Hadley on Wednesday.