Cangelosi Pitches Mount Greylock Past Wahconah
DALTON, Mass. -- One horrific inning Tuesday saw the Wahconah baseball team's defense go off the rails.
Mount Greylock southpaw Jack Cangelosi ensured that Wahconah's offense never got on track.
Cangelosi struck out 15 in a seven-inning, 14-0, season-opening win for the Mounties on Jeff Reardon Field.
Mount Greylock broke open a 1-0 game with a six-run sixth that saw Wahconah commit four errors. The Mounties benefited from two more errors when they tacked on seven runs in the top of the seventh.
But even on a day when Cangelosi was in command, there was a one danger zone.
Right after the Mounties batted around to take a 7-0 lead in the top of the sixth, Quinn Gallagher started the bottom of the inning with a double to right field for Wahconah.
Zach Archambault then worked a walk to give Wahconah two baserunners and no outs.
"I was just trying to relax, stay composed," Cangelosi said. "I knew we were up by a lot, so I just wanted to try to get out of here as quick as possible, I guess."
He got the next three batters out on strikeouts to end the threat. Then he worked a 1-2-3 seventh that included two more strikeouts.
For 90 minutes, it looked like the game was going to be a classic pitcher's duel between Cangelosi and Shane Bernardo.
The Wahconah starter struck out eight over the first five innings.
The only run came in the top of the first, when Derek Paris reached on a wind-blown fly ball that came in from foul territory and dropped in the infield, allowing Paris to get all the way to second.
The Mount Greylock catcher then stole third and came home on a sacrifice fly by Dylen Harrison.
After that, Bernardo held down the Mounties, repeatedly working his way out of jams and stranding seven runners over five innings.
"Shane threw great," Wahconah coach Ernie Wellington said. "Shane had a great game pitching. We just fell apart. Errors killed us."
Thomas Martin started Mount Greylock's sixth inning rally with a leadoff single up the middle, and Jackson Shelsey followed with another single.
After Anthony Welch bunted both into scoring position and Cangelosi earned a free pass to load the bases, Wellington brought in Ben West to relieve Bernardo.
That is when things started to go south defensively for Wahconah (0-2), which allowed three men to reach by error and had a throwing error to allow a runner to score from third before West was able to get the final out.
In the seventh, the first two batters reached on errors, leading to seven unearned runs against relievers Daniel Wilson and Victor Ramos.
Mount Greylock did hit the ball, though.
Leadoff man Oscar Low went 3-for-5 with a double, and Landen Jamula was 3-for-4. Jackson Shelsey singled his first three times up and finished 3-for-5.
It all added up to a win and a perfect varsity coaching record (so far) for Rick Paris, who took over this spring for longtime Mount Greylock coach Steve Messina.
"I'm glad to be back in coaching," Paris said. "Obviously, we miss Coach Messina dearly up here. But I'm glad to take over for him. I've been coaching underneath him in different leagues for many years, and I'm glad he recommended me for the postition.
"And I'm glad we could keep things rolling the way he had it rolling."