Grade-A pitching and an eight-hit offensive attack helped to push the Pinkerton Academy baseball squad to its 10th win of the spring last week.
The host Astros got a simply stupendous pitching performance from Chris Gerossie and more than enough runs in handing the visiting Manchester Memorial Crusaders a 5-0 whitewashing in Derry on Wednesday, May 21.
Gerossie improved his 2014 record to a perfect 6-0 by hurling his superb, complete-game performance. The veteran righty scattered four hits while striking out eight frustrated Memorial batters.
Offensively, Connor Donahue, Nate Rossi and Riley Cahill each smacked two hits for the victorious hosts, with Donahue driving in two of the PA runs. Joe Murphy also drove in two teammates for the Astros, who advanced their season record to 10-5 with the win while dropping Memorial to 5-10.
The PA hardball team then had to work at Dover High School’s Dunaway Field on Memorial Day this past Monday, and quite a bit went well for coach Steve Campo’s crew for a while, with a decent lead after five full innings and some strong pitching work from Connor Donahue.
But the contest against the sizzling-hot Dover Green Wave didn’t end well for the locals, with the scoreboard showing the hosts grasping a 5-2 victory after the final out had been registered.
Pinkerton plated single runs in the first and fourth innings to collect a 2-0 lead, but Dover scored every one of its runs in response in the latter half of the sixth inning, and the hosts wouldn’t have to get up to bat again on this particular afternoon.
The victory was the Wave’s sixth in a row, and it enabled the host team to assure itself of the top seed in Division I with its great 14-2 record. The Astros slipped to 10-6 with the tough loss.
Dover only managed a measly three hits off PA starting pitcher Donahue through the first five innings, but the Wave waved goodbye to Donahue and forced reliever John Polichetti into the contest in that decisive sixth frame.
The victorious hosts rapped five hits in their five-run sixth inning, and the academy crew finished the frustrating contest with seven total hits.
At 10-6, Pinkerton began this week right behind the 11-6 Londonderry High team – Campo’s alma mater – in the congested Division I standings.
