PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Antonio Scalise Tuesday started Taconic’s offense with a two-run single in the bottom of the first.
He ended it with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth to give the Thunder a 10-0 win over West Springfield.
In between, he backstopped a Taconic defense that posted its fifth shutout in improving to 5-1 in its home debut.
The senior catcher received nine third strikes from Matt Lee and Damon Pause, who combined to allow just one hit and two walks.
“They just threw strikes,” Scalise said. “It helps everyone to throw strikes. It makes it easy for the whole team. We can go hit and score some runs.”
With just one blemish on its record, a 5-0 loss to Division 2 Pope Francis, the D3 Thunder has been throwing a lot of strikes.
And ace Lee has collected 44 punchouts in 20-? innings of work.
He was cruising in the fourth on Tuesday when Taconic coach Kevin Stannard made the call to insert Pause, who went 2-? to earn his second win of the season.
“[Lee] was fine,” Stannard said. “I thought he threw the ball really well compared to last time out. Even though we won, 10-0 last time, too, he was a little more sharp. His breaking pitch still is a work in progress. But when you can throw 90 mph, I guess you can get away with that at this level.”
Stannard wanted to limit Lee’s pitch count on Tuesday with Taconic facing a busy week ahead.
On Wednesday it is home against Springfield Central. On Friday it hosts East Longmeadow. Saturday is Round 1 of the city rivalry series against Pittsfield. On Monday, the Cardinals visit for a rematch – giving Taconic, if the weather holds, five games in seven days.
Pause allowed a couple of baserunners in the top of the fifth to give the Terriers runners at the corners with two out, but he got the third out on a squibber that Scalise fielded and threw to Nick Guachione at first.
“His breaking stuff is outstanding,” Stannard said of Pause. “Sometimes, he pitches backwards, which is great – throws the hitters off. With him, Matt and Evan [Blake], we’ve got three quality starters.”
Lee and Pause got all the offensive support they needed in the first inning.
Lee led off by drawing a walk and moved up when Christian Salzarulo reached on an infield single. After Blake drew a walk to load the bases, Scalise hit a one-out single up the middle to make it a 2-0 game.
Scalise walked and scored a run in a four-run Taconic third inning that was highlighted by Guachione’s RBI double,
In the fifth, Guachione led off with his second double of the day, and after Scalise drew a walk, the pair pulled off a double steal to put two in scoring position. Pause hit a sac fly to make it 7-0, and Eddie Ferris drove in a run with a single to left.
“Eddie Ferris, who is a freshman, is really swinging, probably, one of the best bats on the team right now,” Stannard said.
On Tuesday, he went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to raise his batting average to .353.
Needing two runs to end the game in the bottom of the sixth, Taconic got a leadoff single from Salzarulo (2-for-3). He moved up on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Blake.
Blake then stole second and went to third when the throw to second went into the outfield. One batter later, Scalise lifted a sac fly to right field to end the game via the 10-run mercy rule.
