Lincoln-Sudbury punched its ticket to the Division 1 state baseball finals on Tuesday night as it defeated Silver Lake, 10-6, at Campanelli Stadium in the Eastern Mass finals.
Lincoln-Sudbury will play West Springfield in the Division 1 championship Saturday at Holy Cross at 6 p.m.
With the game see-sawing back and forth after senior Anthony Videtto tied the game once again with his double in the fifth, Lincoln-Sudbury took the lead for good as senior designated hitter Thomas Garcia-Meitin scored senior Jacob Shashoua with a single in the fifth.
The Warriors scored five more times in the sixth inning with RBIs from senior Jonathan Rowe, Shashoua, Rylan Forester, and Deven Pathak, along with a passed ball.
Silver Lake was able to open the scoring without a hit in the bottom of the first after Lincoln-Sudbury sophomore righthanded starter Ryan Cusick walked the first three batters to load the bases and senior Jack Ruprecht come through with a sacrifice fly.
Senior Chris Gallard led off the third inning for the Warriors with a single and after a stolen base and sacrifice bunt moved him to third, senior Scott Holzwasser blooped a ball into right that brought Gallard across.
Two batters later Rowe roped a double the left fielder seemed to have misjudged right off the bat, scoring Holzwasser from second.
The Lakers starter, righthander Videtto, walked the bases loaded and walked home Lincoln-Sudbury’s third run of the inning before getting junior Pathak to ground out.
Silver Lake came back and tied the game the next half inning on a single by senior Mike Melanson, who scored on a throwing error by junior catcher Forester.
Senior Alex Dillon would give the Warriors the lead again with his shot to right field in the sixth.
Silver Lake (20-4) tried to make a comeback in the bottom of the sixth with two runs but the hole was too large to dig out of.
Videtto’s final line would be 4? innings with three strikes and five walks and five runs scored .
The Warriors stole 10 total bases, using this speed to put pressure on the Lakers all night. Silver Lake committed five errors as well while Lincoln-Sudbury had three.
Lincoln-Sudbury (21-3) outhit Silver Lake, 12-6 ,and Cusick went six innings, striking out seven and walking six.
Division 4
St. John Paul 5, Lowell Catholic 1 — Fueled by six no-hit innings from senior Eric Del Rosso, St. John Paul II advanced to its fourth straight Division 4 state championship.
Del Rosso struck out five and walked four. He took the mound to close out the game in the bottom of the seventh, but two leadoff walks and a high pitch count ended his outing.
“His pitch count was up to 90,’’ St. John Paul II coach Mark Santos explained. “It’s a hot day, and he’s playing college ball, so we had to do the right thing long-term for him. He had a great outing though.’’
“It was the right move by Coach,’’ Del Rosso added. “God forbid if I had kept walking kids in, something would have happened.’’
His replacement, senior Jon Warden, struck out two in the final frame and sealed the Lions’ victory, but not before walking in Lowell Catholic’s senior infielder Eric Maxfield for a run attributed to Del Rosso.
St. John Paul II’s top four batters drove in all of the team’s runs. The Lions scored three in the top of the first with four straight hits, highlighted by a triple from senior center fielder Joe Oriola. They then added a pair in the fifth when senior shortstop and leadoff man Bobby Higgins drove a two-run homer over the right-field fence.
“I thought it was a pop-up when I first hit it, but it just kept carrying,’’ Higgins said. “Bobby has had a phenomenal year,’’ Santos added.
“I told him, ‘It pays to be in the weight room, doesn’t it?’ He’s launched a few this year and I couldn’t be happier for him.’’
Lowell Catholic senior pitcher Andrew Fisher took the loss in six innings of work, allowing eight hits and five runs while striking out six and walking only one. Junior right fielder Thomas Desmond managed the team’s only hit on a single to right field with two outs in the seventh.
The Lions will face Oxford June 18 at Holy Cross.
