FILE PHOTO
Tyler Way notched two hits for the Rams.
By MIKE ALONGI
READING — For the first time all season, the Lynn Classical baseball team’s bats fell silent against an opponent, leading to a 5-1 loss to the Reading Rockets on the road at Morton Field on Friday afternoon. The Rams only mustered three hits on the day, two of which came from lead-off hitter Tyler Way.
“Well, you can’t win if you don’t hit, and that’s what killed us today,” said Classical coach Mike Zukowski. “We fell behind in some counts, had some uncharacteristic plays defensively and I think eventually we started pressing a little too much both at the plate and in the field.”
Reading pitcher Will McFadden had a lot to do with those quiet bats as well, getting the win on the mound after giving up one run on two hits with five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings of work. After Matt McLaughlin came in to get the final out of the sixth inning, AJ Ucci earned the save with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
Classical got on the board right away in this one, but the one run it scored had to be manufactured with only one hit. It started with a bunt single by Way, who then advanced to second base on an errant pickoff attempt. He then moved up to third on a passed ball. Matt Lauria walked to put runners on first and third, then attempted to steal second base. The Rockets caught Lauria in a rundown between first and second, but the ensuing game of pickle resulted in Way scoring from third base to take a 1-0 lead.
“That was a good way for us to start, moving our guy over and getting him in without a hit,” said Zukowski. “But I mean, there’s only so many runs you can score from plays like that. Eventually you have to hit the ball and make plays that way.”
Reading responded right away in the bottom of the first. A walk and a single to start the inning put runners on first and second with no outs for No. 3 hitter Corey DiLoreto, who smacked an RBI single to right-centerfield to tie the game at 1-1. After an error and a strikeout put runners on second and third with one out, James Reilly stepped in a executed a perfect squeeze bunt up the first-base line to bring in a run for a 2-1 lead.
The score remained at 2-1 for much of the game, with McFadden retiring 11 of the final 15 batters he faced. The Rams were not able to get a runner to second base until Sean Devin stole second in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Rockets added three more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a sacrifice fly from Ben Fischer and RBI singles from Jack Gohr and Patrick Drummey before Ucci earned the save in the top of the seventh.
For Classical (15-1), this is new territory. After not losing a game all season, Zukowski has yet to see how this team responds to these kinds of performances.
“We’ll see how these guys bounce back,” said Zukowski. “It’s our first loss, so this is definitely going to show me what kind of character these guys have. Who’s going to show up? Are we going to pack it away and whine about it or are we going to come out and play our brand of baseball? We’ll see on Monday.”
The Rams are coming down the homestretch of their season now, starting with a Northeastern Conference game against Marblehead on Monday afternoon.