Following a rough 2-4 start to its 2016 campaign, the Pinkerton Academy baseball squad won three consecutive games, including a pummeling of a Manchester opponent in Derry and an extra-inning success on the seacoast last week.
The Astros evened their 2016 record at 4-4 with a 12-2 trouncing of the Manchester Central Little Green in Derry Wednesday, April 27.
The game only went five frames, with the hosts putting the 10-run rule into effect in that inning.
The locals scored twice in the bottom of the first, saw Central knot the score at 2-2 in the top of the third, but then plated five runs in the bottom of the third, one in the bottom of the fourth, and four in the latter segment of the fifth to make the score 12-2.
The winning side received two hits each from John Polichetti, Ben Curry, Brian Sutton, and Matt Clark, with Clark also driving in three runs and scoring two, Sutton driving in one run and scoring a pair, Curry scoring two runs and driving in two, and Norm Kerman lashing out one hit and driving in two.
Winning pitcher Eli Runge went all five frames for his squad, allowing just two hits and no earned runs while striking out four batters and walking just two.
Two days later the Astros made the seacoast ride over to Dover and wound up edging the host Dover High Green Wave by a 7-5 tally in eight innings.
Polichetti went the distance on the mound for the locals, allowing six hits and three earned runs and three walks while striking out seven would-be hitters.
His offense supported him with 17 hits, with Sean Muller slapping out three of them, driving in two runs, and scoring two runs. Caleb Eaton (three RBI) and Mike Jellison each bashed out three hits as well, and Polichetti, Curry, and Sutton each contributed two smacks.
Dover led 1-0 after one inning, but Pinkerton scored twice in the top of the fourth to snag a 2-1 advantage.
The Green Wave scored twice in the bottom of that inning to assume the lead at 3-2, with PA tying the score at 3-3 in the top of the fifth by scoring once.
It then took three innings to bust that deadlock, with the Astros doing so by tallying four runs in the top half of the eighth. Dover (3-5) kept fighting and scored twice in the bottom of the eighth, but the hosts’ comeback fell short.
The academy hardball side then stepped into this week looking at a Monday home contest against Keene, but that game was subsequently postponed by rain.
