Daley Deals as Lenox Downs Taconic

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Mason Daley lasted seven long innings on the mound, and the Lenox baseball team outlasted Taconic for an 11-8 win on Saturday.

 

Daley struck out nine and allowed four earned runs in a complete-game effort that saw him throw 117 pitches as the Millionaires won their third straight game to even their record at 4-4.

 

“My arm is fine because I didn’t throw my curve ball that much today,” Daley said. “I mostly threw change-ups and fastballs. So it really wasn’t too much pressure on my arm today.

 

“I usually throw like, 85 for a game. But they were hitting the ball pretty well today.”

 

Daley’s day, meanwhile, got off to a rough start before he toed the rubber.

 

As Lenox’s No. 3 hitter, he was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat – the first of two beanballs he faced in the batter’s box.

 

“It kind of fired me up a little bit,” Daley said of the hit-by-pitch. “It got the blood flowing a little bit. Got a little mad. Decided it was our time to win.”

 

When Daley did get to stay on his feet in the batter’s box, he went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles in his last three plate appearances in a 10-hit attack for Lenox.

 

Evan Albert went 2-for-3, and Seamus Cooney had a pair of hits for the Millionaires, who rallied from a 7-3 deficit with two runs in the fifth and six in the sixth.

 

In addition to picking up its third win in a row, Lenox put up double figures in runs for the third straight time.

 

“Early in the season, we could not hit the ball at all,” Daley said. “And then later in the season, we started hitting the ball really well. The past three games, I think we’ve had at least 10 hits every game, so the bats are starting to come alive, and we’re gonna keep rolling.”

 

Early on, Evan Roccabruna had Taconic on a roll.

 

Roccabruna doubled and scored in the first inning and doubled in a run in his second at-bat to give Taconic a 2-0 lead after two. He ended up going 3-for-5 with three RBIs in the loss.

 

“He’s really just seeing everything well,” Taconic coach Ben Stohr said of Roccabruna. “It’s all fields. That’s definitely been another positive. He’s really been feeling it from the jump, so that’s been good to see, for sure. … Wherever he is [in the lineup], we’ve got confidence that he’s putting good at-bats together.”

 

Lenox came back in  the third with a three-run rally spurred by Kody Lesser, who singled in a run and ended up scoring on the back end of a double steal with Evan Albert.

 

Taconic then regained the lead in the bottom of the inning, when Devin Reynolds doubled in a run and Roccabruna hit a two-run single to give the hosts a 5-3 lead. One inning later, back-to-back RBI singles from Ethan O’Donnell and Cam Reynolds stretched that lead to four runs.

 

But Lenox scored twice in the fifth on Fernando Vasconcelos Sanchez’s two-run single and took control in the sixth with a six-run rally.

 

The big blow for the Millionaires came in the form of Daley’s two-run double. The inning also saw Taconic pitchers hit two batters and walk three more.

 

The Thunder struggled on the mound after starter Quentin Christopher moved to the field with two out in the third inning.

 

“This was his first start,” Stohr explained. “He had a little arm injury in the off-season, so it was going to be 40 [pitches]. We went to 50, but we don’t want to over-extend him first time out. … He’s pitching in college next year, so we’re not going to overextend it first time. And he knew that.

 

“The next guys in, they battled. But we put them in some tough, tough situations,”

 

Taconic got some life offensively when Gavin O’Donnell led off the sixth with a home run to make it 11-8, and the Thunder put runners on second and third before Daley got a pop-up to the infield to end the threat.

 

He then sat down Taconic’s batters in order in the bottom of the seventh for the only 1-2-3 inning of his outing.

 

First-year Lenox coach Bryon Maloy said Saturday’s win made a statement.

 

“It’s a massive win for us,” he said. “I grew up in Pittsfield. I played for Taconic. I even coached Taconic in the past. Coming here, and these boys rally the way they did – it sends a message that Lenox is no joke. We’re here to play, and everybody else better be ready to play us.”

 

Lenox (4-4) hosts Drury on Monday.

 

Taconic (2-6) hosts Westfield on Monday.

 

Photos from this game to come.