Medfield Post 110 Competes in Weekend Tournament

The Medfield American Legion Post 110 baseball team recently participated in the Third Annual Win Bates Baseball Classic in Braintree.

Win Bates, for whom the tournament is named after, died earlier this year. Bates was an avid Braintree sports enthusiast and reported on local area sports for over 35 years in area newspapers like the Patriot Ledger and Brockton Enterprise. Medfield lost to Braintree's Legion team in the tournament's championship game, 6-1.

Here’s a recap of how Post 110 fared in the tournament:

Game 1: Medfield 11,  Marshfield 0

Medfield opened the tourney with its ace Mike Keleher on the mound against the Marshfield Legion team. Keleher did as he did all spring for Medfield High and for Post 110 this summer by shutting down the opposition with surgical precision. Keleher needed only 58 pitches to get the win due to a shortened game as Medfield’s 11-0 lead invoked the mercy rule after five full innings.

Keleher allowed only two hits while striking out four. He issued two walks and hit a batter but was in control throughout the game. Only one Marshfield player reached third base on an early infield mishap, but Keleher got a third-out grounder back to the box to end the only real scoring threat.

Offensively, Derek Bauer opened the game with a deceptive fly ball that sailed over the left fielder for a triple and he quickly scored on a passed ball to the next batter. In the second, TJ Valente drew a walk, which was immediately followed by a Jake Mintz line drive to center that bounded over the charging outfielder’s glove. Mintz raced around the diamond for a two-run inside the park homer that gave Medfield a 3-0 lead. Marshfield’s Greg Sherman kept the game close by striking out eight Medfield batters through four innings, but after being relieved in the fifth, Medfield capitalized by bringing 11 batters to the plate to score eight more runs. 

Valente again led off  with a walk and Mintz lined his second hit between short and third to put runners on the corners with no outs. When Kyle Latosek loaded the base after being hit by the pitcher, Mark Poli, Gabe Mirabelli, Bauer, Will Cousins and Sam Jordan all contributed base hits in the Medfield rally.

Game 2: Medfield 5, Braintree Senior Ruth 4

In the first of two games, Jake Mintz fought near 90-degree mid-day heat and a pesky Braintree squad to pitch a complete game win 5-4. 

Mintz opened the game by walking the first batter but after quickly picking the runner off at first base, he then put down the next two batters looking at third strikes. With a 4-0 lead after three innings, Mintz yielded three hits that combined with a second baseman error only to find the game tied at four. But Mintz found a second wind and retired the next nine of 10 batters to seal the victory. Overall, Mintz scattered six hits, struck out eight, walked two and hit two batters in his 101-pitch effort.

Unlike the previous night, Medfield batters were not stringing hits together. After two outs in the first, a Will Cousins’ base hit off the pitcher’s glove, a dropped fly ball to right due to solar glare and a Mike Keleher single produced an early two-run lead. Gabe Mirabelli and Brian McCloud each scored in the next two frames to lead 4-0. With the score knotted at four in the bottom half of the fifth, Vin Palumbo opened with a base on balls and a Derek Bauer lined triple to right center put Medfield ahead for good. Braintree’s hurler Kurtis LaPaglia also put in a 100-plus-pitch effort, keeping many Medfield batters off-balanced in the loss.

Game 3: Braintree Legion 4, Medfield Legion 0

In the second game of the day for both teams, Medfield Post110 and Braintree Post 86 squared off in a classic pitching duel between Braintree’s Christian Fox and Medfield’s Derek Latosek through four scoreless innings. Fox remained dominant throughout as he struck out 15 Medfield batters in seven innings.  Latosek struck out four and pitched out of several jams each inning until the fifth when two walks, a double and an error combined for four runs, enough for the win and a place in the Sunday championship game.

Game 4: Medfield 8, Marshfield 7

It took eight innings of seesaw baseball for Medfield to come out on top, 8-7 over a determined Marshfield team. Like Yogi Berra would say, “It was déjà vu all over again” as Medfield jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first much like their 11-0 victory in the teams’ first meeting. Instead, Marshfield would not be shut out and took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the fourth. 

Sam Jordan was on the mound for Medfield and seemed well in command as he struck out the side in the third after letting up one run and two hits the inning before. But after Medfield came back with two in the fourth to go up 5-4 and Jordan went 1-2-3 in the fifth with two more strikeouts, the sixth inning had Marshfield scoring three more times on fielding mishaps and seeing eye hitting.  Jordan finished the sixth with a total of eight strikeouts, eight hits and no walks but his team trailed by two with two to go. 

Medfield scored in the first on perfectly placed flies to the outfield by Cousins and Keleher with Jordan helping his own cause with a single to plate McCloud, who drew a walk and Cousins behind him. With Jordan attempting to steal, Keleher raced from third to make it 3-0. In the fourth, TJ Valente hit a double in the left center gap and Mark Poli grounded a double down the third base line. After Jake Mintz moved Poli to third on a groundout up the middle, Poli gave Medfield the lead with scoring on a wild pitch. Down two in the sixth, Poli added two more RBI on a single to right after the tiring Marshfield pitcher gave up a walk and an error at a second base possible force play.

Vince Palumbo replaced Jordan in the seventh and closed down the opposition with a strikeout and two flies to the outfielders. With a runner on second in the eighth and no outs (which is the tournament tie breaking format) Palumbo again shutdown Marshfield 1-2-3 to give his team a chance to win in the bottom half.  Cousins, who made the last out in the seventh, started at second with no outs. Keleher sacrificed him over to third with a good bunt. Palumbo drew a walk and then Valente was intentionally walked to load the bases and create a force at home and each base. Poli then delivered on a 2-2 count with a line drive to center over a drawn infield and outfield to break the 7-7 tie.

Game 5: Championship Game : Braintree Legion 6, Medfield  1

Medfield had to regroup quickly to face a rested Braintree squad, who had bested them the day before 4-0. Kyle Latosek started for Post 110  and took a 1-run lead into the fourth. After getting two Braintree hitters to fly out to centerfielder Derek Bauer, Latosek showed signs of tiring when he gave up a double and left a 2-out 0-2 curve over the middle for a run scoring single by the Braintree catcher Zancy. The fifth inning proved to be the difference in the game as Braintree led off with a double and a sac bunt to move the go ahead runner to third with only one out.  After two walks to load the bases Latosek got Braintree’s leadoff man to hit an infield fly for two outs.  With two strikes and two balls on the next batter Latosek hit the batsmen to force in a run.  Braintree’s third hitter Lee then laced a bases clearing double off Latosek and then scored on two wild pitches by pitching replacement Derek Bauer to put the home team up 6-1.

Starting pitcher Delano and reliever Radcliffe, who earned the victory, combined for eight strikeouts and only let up three Medfield hits although Post 110 continued to hit the ball hard and remained competitive save for the five run fifth which could have easily gone their way.  Medfield Post 110 closed its season 14-11 with a third place finish in District 6 West, a playoff appearance against sectional champ Cohasset, and runner-up to Braintree Post 86 in the Win Bates Classic.