Townies Pushed to the Brink

"Townies pushed to the brink with tough loss to Rowley in ITL playoffs"

By Connor Whooley

ROWLEY — The seventh inning illustrated Rockport's frustrations on Monday.
Down a run, the Townies loaded the bases with no outs.

But two infield flies and a flyout later, Rowley had taken game one of the ITL Playoffs, 1-0 in a very well-played baseball game at Eiras Park.

The Townies hit the ball hard all night and had their opportunities, but they just couldn't capitalize.
"Tough loss," said Townies manager Jay Pallazola. "You never like to lose 1-0 but they played well here and their defense was solid tonight. We hit the ball well. (Rams starter Joe White) usually shuts us down. We usually don't get many hits off him. Today we hit the ball, but we hit it right at people."
They started in the first, advancing men to second and third after Nolan Webb reached on a walk and a double by Jordan Pallazola.

But White escaped the jam, as he would multiple times on the evening.

In the fourth, Dylan Maki led off the inning with a single then stole second before he was stranded and in the sixth, he singled again followed by a walk to Jason Vizena with two outs and the pair advanced on a past ball but White danced around it one more time.

White worked six innings, allowing four walks and four hits while striking out three.

 

"I felt pretty good," said White. "I haven't thrown in 10 days so the arm felt good. It was a good game back-and-forth, a defensive battle. Neither guy really struck out a lot of batters."

He was pulled in the seventh in the middle of the Townies' biggest opportunity.

 

Michael Emerson led off with a walk before Brian Lentz dropped down a bunt that White couldn't handle. Tim Cashman then came in to pitch for the Rams and Kyle Nelson ripped a single off his glove to load the bases with no outs.

But it wasn't to be as Cashman worked quick and got two infield pop-ups and a fly ball to center to end it.

On the other side, it was pinch hitter Curtis Putnam who drove in what ended up being the game-winner in the fourth, scoring Cashman who led off the inning with a double.
"Great baseball game," said Rams coach Jeff Wood. "This is just great ITL baseball right here. That's what tonight was."

Townies starter MacKenzie Quinn worked out of the jam though and was excellent on the night, going all seven allowing just the one run on eight hits and one walk while striking out four. His defense was also fantastic behind him.

"He's solid," Pallazola said of Quinn. "He's a great pitcher. He battles. He may get a couple guys on but he battles. He never gives up. He won't lose."

The No. 2 seed Rams and the No. 3 seed Townies meet again tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at Evans Field in Rockport.

"We're just going to have to re-focus and come back tomorrow at home," said Pallazola.