Hitting woes continue for Legion baseball team

Inconsistent hitting has plagued the Canton American Legion baseball team at the start of the season as the squad fell to 1-3 with a 1-0 loss to Norfolk Sunday afternoon at Canton High School.

Earlier in the week, Canton fell to Needham 3-0 but won its first game of the season 3-1 against Franklin.

Sunday’s loss to Norfolk overshadowed an excellent pitching performance by Sam Larson, who allowed just one unearned run while striking out six batters and limiting Norfolk to four hits. The Canton defense also turned two double plays in the game.

The lone Norfolk run came after a batter reached base on an error, advanced on a passed ball and an outfield fly ball, and scored on an infield hit.

Meanwhile, Canton batters had only four hits in the game and squandered their only good rally — failing to score despite putting men on second and third with a single by Steve Mullaney and a sharp double by Matt Potts.

“The problem certainly has not been pitching,” said Legion head coach Greg Lyons. “Outside of our opening loss to Walpole (10-1), our starters have been great. Our hitting has to be more aggressive. We have to work on our approach at the plate and being patient and work for the walk.”

In the loss to Needham, Dave Roberto pitched a complete game, giving up six hits with runs scoring in the third and fourth innings. Canton hits were delivered by Drew Blake, Brennan Sullivan, Nate Pedersen, and Jimmy Fitzgerald.

The highlight of the week was a 3-1 home win against Franklin in which Jake Fishman pitched a complete-game two hitter, with the lone run coming late in the game on an unearned run. The Canton offense came alive with a two-run double by Justin Rudy, an RBI single by Mullaney, three hits by Blake, two hits by Brad Kaufmann, and a hit by Potts.

The Legion team had a busy week this week with five games in six days, beginning with a home game against Brookline on Tuesday and an away game at Foxboro on Thursday. Tomorrow and Saturday they will play Medfield (home and away), followed by a road game Sunday at Walpole.

Next week, the team will travel to Norwood on Monday, June 26, and then host Norwood at CHS on Tuesday, June 26, at 5:45 p.m.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Jun 21 2012. Filed under Beyond CHS, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.