The East Boston Knights are back in action in the Yawkey Basball League. They opened up the season on a beautiful sunny day in the South End vs the Astros. The Knights came out fired up for the opening day and did not disappoint. They started the attack in the first inning as newcomer Victor LeBron led off with a walk and stole second base. Wilson Mercado drove him in with an opposite field single to give the Knights a lead they would not relinquish. That run proved to be all they needed as Vic Mendez was dominant on the bump the entire game. Mendez pitched 5 strong hitless innings, going perfect through 4 as he silenced the Astros bats all day. The Knights offense was not too shabby either as they exploded for 5 runs in the 4th inning capped off by a Victor LeBron 3 run homerun. Edward Cruz relieved Vic Mendez in the 6th and Jon Shepard finished the game for the Knights who won 9 to 0. In all Knights pitching allowed 1 hit on the day. “The club looked great, ready to play and hungry for this season to start” said GM and Manager Eric Bellavia “We really worked hard in the offseason, harder than we ever have in the past and it really showed today. The guys were ready to be let out of the cage” The YBL Knights continue their quest for a championship this season on Tuesday, May 13th vs the Malden Maddogs at Maplewood Park at 8PM.
It was a great day overall for the Knights as the RRBL team also won making it a clean sweep for the franchise on Mother’s day.
RRBL game recap: With the loss to the Red Dogs fresh in their minds, the Knights look to regain their winning ways against the Arlington Spirits. The Spirits have seen better days as they came into the match-up winless on the year. Sean Hannon WP (4.2 IP, 4H, 3ER, 4BB, 3K) took the hill looking for his 2nd win of the season. The first 3 innings went by in a flash as the only runner to reach base did so on an error and was promptly doubled up on a fly to the short-stop. From there, Hannon lost some effectiveness as the Spirits sent 8 batters to the plate in the fourth scoring 3 runs.
With as potent offense as the Knights have, those 4 runs were never a factor. They had already scored 8 of their 9 runs in the first two innings with the help of 11 walks by Spirits pitching. When the Knights finally got the chance to use their bats, Chris Dowd (3-4; 2R, RBI, BB)got it started with a hard hit single to left field. Alex Carras (1-2; 2B, 4RBI, 2BB) broke out with a bases clearing double to bring in three more runs in the inning. With the needed runs across the plate, the Knights could relax and let the pitching bring them home.
With Hannon running into trouble on the mound, Billy Riggieri S (2.1 IP, 3K, 0H, 2BB, 0ER) came on for the save. He struck out the last batter of the 5 inning ending the scoring threat and went on to retire the side in the 6th inning. After walking the first two batters of the 7th inning the Spirits scored 2 runs aided by an error by pitcher Sean Perkins (0-1; K) making a rare appearance at third base. The Knights turned their 5th double play of the game to put the final nail in the Spirits’ coffin and a soft ground ball back to the pitcher ended the game.