Taunton High baseball postseason run continues with trip to South Sectional final

It?s difficult to beat a team three times in one season.

Just ask Danny Pedro and Matt Nunes. The pair combined for a seven-hit shutout as the Taunton High baseball team defeated Barnstable 3-0 in the semifinals of Sunday?s MIAA Division I South Sectional Tournament at Campanelli Stadium.

The eighth-seeded Tigers continued their terrific postseason, improving to 18-5. And the team will be right back at it today, traveling to Braintree High to face 15th-seeded Xaverian (15-8) in the sectional final at 4 p.m. It is the first appearance ever in a sectional final for Taunton.

The win by Taunton more than made up for two losses to Barnstable during the regular season. The Red Raiders won 3-1 in Barnstable and registered a 14-2 victory in Taunton over Memorial Day weekend to win the outright Old Colony League title. The fourth-seeded Red Raiders completed their season at 16-5.

?It is tough to beat a team three times in one season,? Taunton head coach Jeff Sylvia said. ?And the coaching staff has been preaching that to the kids the last few days. I?m so proud of this team. To see how all the seniors have blossomed and grown into young adults has been phenomenal. I really enjoy coaching this team. I love these guys. They are so fun to be around. Everything they do, they do together. We are like a big family. I can?t say enough about how proud I am of these kids.?

Along with the outstanding pitching performances of both Pedro and Nunes, Taunton got a clutch run-scoring double from junior first baseman Matt MacLean in the bottom of the fourth inning.

And the Tigers got their usual key hit from senior captain and catcher Joey Walsh, who provided some important insurance for the Tigers with a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth.

Pedro had an excellent game. Pitching out of trouble a couple of times, he surrendered no runs and four hits with two strikeouts and one walk over his seven innings to get the victory.

?That was the best game I have ever pitched in my life,? Pedro said. ?I?m very pleased with how I pitched. At the beginning of the week, coach asked me if I could give him six shutout innings and that was my goal for today. I was happy with my location and the ump was giving me a little more of the outside corners, which also helped. My best pitch was my changeup. I was keeping it down in the zone and getting them to pop it up. I also kept them off-balance with my fastball.?

At the start of the top of the eighth, Nunes moved to the mound from his right-field position. He pitched himself in and out of trouble in the eighth and then allowed just a bloop single in the ninth before getting the final out for the save on a foul pop up, which Walsh pulled in to end the game.

?Both guys did a great job,? Sylvia said. ?Danny pitching seven innings was huge for us. If not for him, we would not have been in this game. We got all we could have asked out of both Danny and Matt. Today, we did what we have done all year. We had very good pitching and we played very good defense.?

Taunton made the most of its six hits, scoring three runs. MacLean finished 2-for-4 with a single, double and RBI. Senior captain, second baseman and ninth-place hitter Zach Grady was 2-for-2 with a single, triple, sacrifice bunt and a run. Walsh had a single, two RBI, a run scored and was hit by a pitch. Senior captain, center fielder and lead-off hitter Travis Ritchie had a single, sacrifice bunt and a run scored.

?They had beaten us twice this year, so it was good to get back at them,? Grady said. ?Losing 14-2 to them a couple of weeks ago was definitely a motivating factor for us. Going into the game, we talked about staying up and enthusiastic. We needed to keep our focus and play the hardest we could.?

Barnstable senior right-hander Willie Nastasi suffered the loss. In the first meeting between the two teams earlier this spring in Barnstable, he used 155 pitches and 16 strikeouts for a 3-1 win. But Taunton got two runs and three hits off him on Sunday. He had eight strikeouts, one walk and also hit a batter.

After Pedro pitched out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the top of the second, Taunton got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth.

Walsh began the rally by reaching first after an off-speed pitch from Nastasi skimmed off his helmet. MacLean then hit a rocket to left-center field, which was good for his first double of the year. It scored Walsh all the way from first for a 1-0 Tiger lead.

?Our number one goal was to score first,? Sylvia said. ?The kids really played with confidence after that first run. It was huge. The coaching staff had really been talking about that the last few days. Barnstable had scored first the first two times we played them, so it was important for us to get the first run today.?

Barnstable got its lead-off batter on base in both the sixth and seventh innings, getting a runner to third with two outs in the sixth, but Pedro pitched out of each jam.

?Danny came to me after the sixth inning and said he wanted to go one more inning,? Sylvia said. ?Danny was great. He did the job today.?

The Red Raiders then had a runner at second with one out in the eighth and runners on second and third with two outs, but Nunes ended that threat by striking out first baseman Dan Walsh.

The Tigers then scored two key insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Grady led off the inning with a triple down the right-field line, which spelled the end of the day for Nastasi. ?I know he throws hard,? Grady said. ?I had to get my hands quick. I wanted to slap it to right and something good happened.?

With another star pitcher on mound in senior Keegan Dellacona, Taunton scored twice. Ritchie greeted Dellacona with an infield single, but Grady had to hold at third. One batter later and after Ritchie had stolen second, Walsh poked a single into right to score both Grady and Ritchie and make it 3-0.

?Those last two runs were huge,? Sylvia said. ?At 1-0, I had my stomach in my mouth. When we got it to 3-0, everyone was able to take a deep breath. And we had the right guy up in that spot in Joey.?

In the top of the ninth, Nunes started the inning by getting a pair of groundouts. Barnstable designated hitter Sam Holway then blooped a single to left field. But Nunes got pinch hitter Hayden Murphy to pop up to Walsh in foul territory to end the game and send the Tigers to the sectional final.

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