SCARBOROUGH – Ben Wessel can no longer help his team with his right arm because of impending Tommy John surgery, but that doesn’t mean he can’t help Scarborough with his bat as the designated hitter.
Wessel belted a long three-run homer that highlighted a six-run fifth inning Saturday as No. 2 Scarborough shut out No. 3 Windham 7-0 in a Western Class A baseball semifinal.
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Scarborough (16-2) will play No. 4 Cheverus (14-4) for the regional title at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph’s College.
“Any way I can help the team, I’ll do it,” said Wessel. “If it means laying down a bunt, I will. It felt good. The pitcher threw it where I was looking for it. My first two at-bats, I just missed it.”
Wessel, a left-handed hitter, sent the ball high over the right-field fence onto Gorham Road.
The other story for the Red Storm was pitcher Ben Greenberg, who weathered early threats by the Eagles (13-5) to pitch a four-hitter. Greenberg also had three hits, including a triple, and scored.
Greenberg hadn’t started on the mound since mid-May because of tendinitis. He pitched 11/3 innings against Windham in the Telegram League semifinals last week as a test for his arm.
“My arm felt great,” said Greenberg. “I felt comfortable going in and the adrenaline kicked in after that.”
With Greenberg and Nate Boyle of Windham pitching well, it looked like a run or two might be enough. Scarborough had two runners thrown out at home — one on a tag for an inning-ending double play in the third and the other on a force in the fifth.
But the next batter in the fifth, Joe Cronin, hit a two-run single.
Counting the regular-season game, the league playoffs and the first four innings Saturday, the Red Storm had gone 18 innings without scoring against Windham, which won the first two games, 4-0 and 2-0.
“We knew that the percentages were in our favor and it was just a matter of time before we scored,” said Scarborough Coach Mike Coutts. “You need your seniors and leaders to make plays, and they did today.”
The Eagles got a runner to third in the first inning after a single by Cody Dube with one out. Greenberg struck out the next two batters.
In the third, Windham had the bases loaded with one out after an intentional walk to Dube. Again, Greenberg struck out the next two.
“Greenberg pitched awesome,” said Coutts. “The rest did him well. He’s all healed and he helped us with some good at-bats.
“Windham had their chances early and Ben made some big pitches. He had a great breaking ball, which was key. For a sophomore, he has great mound presence.”
The Eagles ended the bottom of the third with a double play. Greg Viola, who led off with a double, went to third on Cronin’s drive to center that was caught. The next batter grounded to Dube at short, who threw to Robbie Hamilton at first for the second out. Hamilton fired to home, where catcher Jack Herzig tagged out Viola.
Two innings later, the Red Storm were in control.
“The first team to score was going to capture all the momentum,” said Windham Coach Mike Fullerton. “When you’re dealing with high school kids, momentum is huge.”
Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:
tchard@pressherald.com
Twitter: TomChardPPH
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