Red-hot A’s headed to Stan Musial tourney

The Canton A’s, having won nine of its last 11 games, are on their way to the Stan Musial state baseball playoffs. With a win last week against first-place Braintree and two more on Sunday against second-place Middleboro and fourth-place Weymouth, the A’s are now tied for third place in the Cranberry League at 12-8-1.

With injuries mounting, A’s head coach Kee Arguimbau has been forced to use position players as relief pitchers, and so far they have helped out, including Chuck Erickson, Steve Delanian, newcomer Garret Hayward, and even Arguimbau himself.

Dependable pitcher Mark Nelson has had an all-star year, and the offense has picked up as of late behind Erickson, Delanian, Alex Rossi, Joe Belmosto, John Garabedian, and catcher Chris Puliafico.

“We have had solid pitching, timely hitting, and stellar defense,” Arguimbau said. “The veterans have set the standard and the youngsters are following suit.”

The A’s did suffer another injury setback when Rossi collided with a player on the basepath, injuring his shoulder. The full extent of the injury is unknown.

On Sunday against Middleboro, Hayward, a 6’7” southpaw, pitched four solid innings and Erickson came on in relief to hold the league’s top offense to a single run in a 2-1 victory. Erickson and Belmosto drove in the runs for Canton.

In the second game, Nelson threw a complete game in a 3-2 win as Canton took advantage of some Weymouth errors while completing two double plays and getting some nice catches from left fielder Mike Trachtenberg.

An RBI single by Erickson in the third inning tied the game at 1-1. Weymouth then pushed across a run in its half of the inning, but Canton scored the winning runs in the fifth on a botched double-play attempt with the bases loaded.

Nelson seemed to get stronger as the game wore on, retiring several batters in a row until the last inning, when Weymouth loaded the bases with no outs. However, Nelson managed to recover from there, getting a force-out at home and then a game-ending double play with a nice pickup by Erickson.

The highlight of the week was Canton’s 6-5 home win over Braintree (19-2) on Tuesday. Haywood pitched the first two innings and was relieved by Nelson, who allowed just one earned run over the final five innings. An RBI hit by Garabedian in the bottom of the fifth inning produced the winning run. Garabedian and Rossi both finished with two hits.

Canton’s other win last week came in the second game of a doubleheader against Easton, with Arguimbau pitching six innings en route to a 6-2 victory. Erickson pitched an inning of relief. Delanian led the offense with three hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Belmosto had two hits and Garabedian had an RBI.

Canton had games this week against Weymouth and South Shore and will close out the regular season on Thursday (tonight) against Easton, beginning at 6 p.m. Playoffs start July 24 and will feature the league’s top five teams.

The league’s all stars will take on the Boston Park League all stars Friday night at Rockland Stadium, with five players selected to represent Canton: Belmosto, Nelson, Delanian, Garabedian and Erickson.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Jul 14 2011. Filed under Beyond CHS, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.