Marauders Fight Back, Yet Fall to Canton on the Diamond

Baseball is a season of highs and lows, and in New England with cold hands and a whipping wind, anything can happen on the diamond in April.

And Wednesday, the rollercoaster ride at Memorial Field certainly proved that.

The Marauders kicked off their season against non-league opponent Canton on a blistery so-called spring day, squandering an early lead, and falling short on a valiant comeback to the Bulldogs 9-6.

“It was good to see them fight back, “ commented head coach Kevin Quaranto following the game, after his team closed the Canton lead from 8-3 to 8-6 heading into the final inning.

“It’s not easy being out here. We’ve only been out practicing a few times,” Quaranto said, referring to the mighty unkind seasonal weather.

The Marauders went to the hill with their ace, senior Mike Ryan, who breezed through the first two innings with a pair of strikeouts, but was tagged for eight runs in the third inning.

Dedham jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the first, thanks to consecutive singles by Domingo Rodriguez, Matt Baron and Dan O’Connor.

After a scoreless second and Dedham still ahead 3-0, Canton ripped off six hits and three walks against Ryan and went ahead 8-3.

Quaranto turned to reliever Chris DeLouchrey to stop the bleeding, and he was able to register the final out of the third on a strikeout.

DeLouchrey helped his own cause when he singled in the third, leading to runs by Baron and O’Connor, to cut the Canton lead to 8-5.

The hit by DeLouchrey sparked something within the righty reliever because he shut the door on the Bulldog offense until the seventh.

DeLouchrey finished with 4 and 1/3 strong innings, striking out eight, and only allowing four hits and walking zero.

“I thought Chris pitched great. He came in and threw strikes when we needed him to,” said Quaranto, “He battled.”

Dedham added an RBI double by senior Kevin Boudrow to cut the lead to 8-6 in the bottom of the fifth and it looked like a comeback was very plausible for this senior-laden squad.

Canton however, had other plans as they added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a two-out triple.

“We are going to shake it off,” said the junior catcher Baron, “We are not going to let this get us down.” 

The Marauders will try to find the winning side Thursday when they travel up the road to play West Roxbury.

“The good thing about baseball, is that we got a game tomorrow,” added Quaranto.