Massasoit Baseball Falls In Region XXI Finals To Northern Essex

BROCKTON, Mass. ---- The Massasoit Community baseball team ran the gauntlet through the losers bracket of the Region XXI Baseball Championship, but eventually ran out of steam on Sunday against Northern Essex. The Warriors needed to beat the Knights twice on the day and captured game one 12-5, before falling 8-2.

The victory sends Northern Essex to the NJCAA World Series in Tyler, Texas.

Massasoit concludes the season with a 24-12 overall record.

Game 1: Massasoit 12, Northern Essex 5
Luke Nagle (Pembroke) fired a gutsy complete game effort to force a winner-take-all second contest against the Knights.

The sophomore right-hander, who pitched three innings on Friday, went the distance, scattering eight hits and allowing five runs. Only two of the runs allowed were earned, as Nagle collected nine strikeouts in the victory.

Nagle also helped himself at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two RBI.

Outside of Nagle's strong performance, the bottom of the order gave NECC fits all game. Scott O'Brien (East Bridgewater), Chris Roumbakis (Taunton) and Joe Commesso (Marshfield) -- the No. 7, 8, 9 hitters -- went a combined 9-for-11 at the plate and scored seven runs and knocked in four.

Roumbakis went 4-for-5, scored four times and drove in two more. Commesso was a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI, while O'Brien was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored.

Travis Ritchie (Taunton) and Joe Walsh (Taunton) each added a pair of hits, including a homer by Walsh. Pat Murray (Weymouth) added three hits, two runs scored and two RBI.

Game 2: Northern Essex 8, Massasoit 2
David Tarr (Easton) pitched into the sixth inning the day after firing a complete game, but his stellar performance was not enough as he was out-dueled by NECC's Daniel Bonito.

Tarr, a sophomore, finished with four strikeouts, yielding four runs off three hits in five innings.

The Massasoit offense only managed to collect three hits against Bonito. The southpaw for NECC did walk six and hit a batter, but continued to work around base runners. Twice he walked the bases loaded and escaped without allowing run.

The Warriors led 2-0 in the fifth, before NECC rallied to tie the score on a two-run homer from Michael Crisostome and take the lead on a RBI single off the bat from David Quazada.

The Knights then broke the game open in the last of the eighth on a bases clearing hit by MacDaniel Singleton. NECC advances to the NJCAA World Series for the third straight season.

Matt Levasseur (Milton) roped a double and walked in the loss.