Staring at an early Super Eight exit in the face, BC High coach Norm Walsh called on Mike Vasil to finish the job. It did not take long.
After seeing a 6-0 lead dwindle to a mere run in the top of the eighth running, Walsh turned to Vasil with the tying run on third base and two men down. The Eagles’ ace came in and struck out four straight hitters for the save as top-seeded BC High defeated No. 2 Wachusett, 6-5, on Tuesday night at Campanelli Stadium.
BC High (17-6) moves on to play Walpole on Wednesday afternoon in the Super Eight Quarterfinals while Wachusett finishes with a 21-4 record.
“It was very fun,” said Vasil on coming into close. “I don’t close very often. To come out of the bullpen, warm up, under the lights and for some seniors this could be their last game so to keep it alive was a ton of fun.”
BC High led 6-3 after seven innings, but three errors, a wild pitch, and an RBI single to left by Cole Durkan pulled Wachusett to within 6-5.
On came Vasil who struck out Barry Walsh on three pitches before throwing 11 consecutive strikes in the ninth inning to fan the side and seal the Eagles’ win.
“I did not want to have to use Mike but we had no choice,” said Walsh. “That’s why he is who he is. You get to this point and you just scrap and scrape to do what you can.”
The Eagles jumped on top of the Mountaineers in the second inning. Two walks and a single loaded the bases, and John MacDonald grounded an RBI single to left to put the Eagles on top 1-0. Luke Murphy was then hit by a pitch, and Bobby DeMeo lofted a sacrifice fly to right to increase the Eagles’ lead to 3-0. Marty McCormack’s RBI groundout to shortstop moments later put BC High up 4-0 after two.
BC High added a fifth run in the bottom of the third on a Dave Driscoll RBI single. Eagles’ starter Tim Albert, meanwhile, kept Wachusett’s offense at bay through the first five innings. The left-hander did not allow a run while scattering just three hits and striking out eight.
The Eagles’ added their final run of the night in the bottom of the fifth as Sean O’Connell took a fastball the other way to left field for a solo home run to increase BC High’s lead to 6-0.
“I was just trying to be aggressive and get something I could drive,” said O’Connell. “We try to focus on having one big inning for them at the beginning of the game and jump on their starter.”
Wachusett began to chip away in the sixth. An error, an Eric Beauregard double, and consecutive walks got Wachusett on the board and forced Walsh to go to the bullpen. Mike Dragon induced a double play that made it 6-2, but moments later, Wachusett loaded the bases. Dragon got ahead of Francis Ferguson 1-2, but on the ensuing pitch the Mountaineers’ two-hitter lined a curveball into left centerfield that looked bound for extra bases.
BC High center fielder Luke Murphy, however, dove across his body full extension to make the play and keep at least three Wachusett runs from scoring.
