ESSEX — Win or go home.
After a walk-off Game 2 playoff victory by the Rockport Townies on Wednesday night, that was the situation both they and their worthy playoff opponent, the Manchester Essex Mariners, faced on Thursday evening at Memorial Park.
The winner would head to the Intertown Twilight League championship series to face the Rowley Rams, the loser would see their summer season come to a close.
Despite another valiant effort by the fourth-seeded Townies, it was top-seeded Manchester that held on for triumph, securing a 3-1 decision on their home diamond.
With the win, Manchester advanced to a remarkable 15th straight finals.
“I told you what we were going to do and we did it,” Manchester Essex manager Cory Burnham said, referring to his discussion with the Gloucester Times after Wednesday night’s loss. “We showed up and we played our brand of baseball and now we’re on to the finals; we knew we were going to be here.”
The game started off slow for both teams with both pitchers putting together a couple of strikeouts early on. Manchester Essex’s Brett Moore, who finished with four Ks, and Rockport’s Derrick MacDowell (5 Ks) were both in a groove out of the gate.
The first run wasn’t plated until the bottom of the fourth inning when EJ Field drew a walk and ended up scoring on a single from James Dolan for a 1-0 Manchester lead. Dolan would get some help from Caulin Rogers, who would return the favor by driving him in with an RBI single to double the lead.
The Mariners would then add another insurance run before the frame was over, as Lukas Albano singled, stole second and third base, then followed his base run by scoring on a passed ball to make it 3-0.
At that point, the energy seemed to deflate from Rockport and the momentum had shifted all to the Mariners.
“That’s a good team over there,” said Rockport manager Mike Frontierro. “They (were) in first place for a reason. We didn’t hit like we should have tonight, we had a few too many walks. Hats off to them, that finals should be good.”
Rockport would not go down without a fight with Ben Sperry starting the sixth inning off with a double and Zach Oliver hitting him home on a two-bagger of his own to give Rockport their lone run of the game.
“This season was a roller coaster ride for us,” said Frontierro “We had some ups and downs, but when we made the playoffs, I didn’t think we were gonna make it.”
Zack Abbott came on to close for the Mariners and delivered for his team, ending the game on a strikeout to secure them a spot back in the finals.
“We have to stay confident in what we can do,” Burnham said. “Keep playing our brand of baseball and everything’s going to go our way.”
The Mariners will look to get over the hump and capture their first finals win since 2021, and this team appears to have what it takes to do just that.
“The grittiness of this team, everybody, all 15 that’s on the bench,” Burnham said, “everybody’s down to get down and dirty. Total team effort for every win and that’s just what we do. We’re a full, complete team. So we got to the finals.”
This year’s championship round will begin this weekend in Essex, with an official time and date for Game 1 yet to be determined.
- Sports Editor Nick Giannino contributed to this report
