Cunningham Leads Mounties to Shocking WMass. Win
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- Watch out for hot baseball teams heading into the postseason.With an 11-9 overall record, the Mount Greylock baseball team didn't seem like a world beater heading into the Division 2 Western Massachusetts Baseball Tournament. The MIAA didn't think it had much to offer either, seeding the Mounties ninth out of 11 teams and making them play a road game against No. 8 Southwick to open the tourney.
With a little closer inspection, however, one could see that Steve Messina's team had won six out of its last eight contests heading into the playoffs and were much better than their 11-9 record suggested. Greylock opened up by shutting out Southwick 5-0 and followed that with a more improbable 4-0 win over top-seeded Monument Mountain on Saturday afternoon.
The Mounties got a great pitching performance for the second postseason game in a row, this time receiving a terrific outing by junior Avery Cunningham in just his third start of the season. Cunningham held the Spartans (15-6) to just four hits in five and one-third innings of work, striking out one and walking one to improve his record to 2-0. He didn't blow the ball past the Monument batters but, instead, kept them off balance by moving the ball around and collecting strikes all over the plate. He didn't allow a single extra-base hit all game long, forcing the hosts to settle four just four singles.
His offense helped him out by giving him a quick 2-0 lead in the top of first inning. Sophomore Sean Houston led off with a walk and then scored when junior Billy Pulasky singled and reached second base on an error. Sophomore Andrew Leitch then came through with an RBI double to drive in Pulasky.
Spartans' starter Wilson Flower then settled down after that, retiring 15 out of the next 16 batters at one point to allow his team a chance to get back in the game. The Monument offense didn't come through, however, leaving a runner on third base in the second inning and the bases loaded in the third. They jammed the bases full again in the sixth inning, but Greylock senior Tommy Nowlan came on in relief and forced the Spartans into two straight ground outs to end the frame.
The Mounties then put the game away for good in the top of the seventh, receiving a one-out single by freshman catcher Nick DiSanti and then a back-breaking RBI triple by Brandon DeCelles. The senior first baseman drove a ball to deep left center field to give his team a 3-0 lead and later scored on a single by Houston for the final margin of the game.
"Today's game was a great one for us," Messina said. "The kids played very well in all parts of the game. Avery pitched very well, not overpowering, but he threw strikes and mixed up his speeds very well. The defense made some outstanding plays, particularly in the infield, where Eddie Dufur, Andrew Leitch, Billy Pulasky and Brandon DeCelles made great plays in tough situations.
"Tommy Nowlan came in and did a great job shutting the door. In a pressure-packed sixth, Tommy was able to prevent Monument from scoring with only one out and the bases loaded. We only had seven hits, but they were timely ones. It was a really big win against a very good team."
Nowlan ended up striking out two batters and recorded the final five outs of the game, setting down Monument in order in the seventh. Flower allowed only six hits, striking out eight and walking only one to take the loss.
Pulasky ended up going 3 for 4 in the game to raise his season batting average to .371. That is good for second best on the team, while his 19 runs batted put him on top of that category.
Greylock now awaits the winner of Monday's quarterfinal game against No. 4 Palmer and No. 5 Greenfield, both of which finished the season with records of 13-7. As the Mounties' performance on Saturday suggests, records don't mean much of anything this time of year.
The date of time of the Mounties' semifinal contest will be determined at a later date once the other three quarterfinal games are finished in the next two days.