What started as just another day at Bullens Field turned out to be anything but, as grey skies turned bright, flaming hot bats cooled off, and a freshman phenom tossed a gem as the Tigers of Westfield Voc-Tech pounced on the Saints of St. Mary’s High School 3-2 in Division 3 boys’ baseball action Wednesday.
Coming off a big 9-1 victory on Friday at the vaunted Westfield park against Smith Voke, St. Mary’s was riding a wave of confidence into Wednesday’s match-up. They also happened to ride into a buzzsaw in Voke pitcher Jake Parsons, who turned in a huge day for the purple and gold, and improved to 2-6 on the year, thanks in large part to the freshman’s complete game, 9-strikeout outing.
The Tigers struck first, getting to St. Mary’s pitcher Matt Plasse early with a couple of hits from Conner Hebda and Parsons, which scored two runs. The Saints attempted to strike back in the bottom half of the first with a double from shortstop Noah Parker, but they were unable to get the big righty home.
Parsons settled into an epic groove in the middle innings, only giving up one run on a passed ball in the second inning. He also helped his own cause by driving in a run in the top of the inning to boost the WVT lead.
By the fifth inning, it seemed as if the Saints would roar back, scoring another run off of a Parker double. However, Parsons would fight back and fan second baseman Anthony Garde to end the inning and get out of the jam.
By the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers were clinging onto their ninth life, as the Saints mustered a final comeback effort. However, the Parsons project would coolly shut the door on St. Mary’s, striking out two to end the afternoon with his second win of the year.
After the game, the Tigers were beaming with pride.
“He had a complete day,” Tigers skipper Clem Fucci said, “ he’s got all the tools to be great, and we saw them today. He has a lot of great pitches and his offspeed stuff is excellent. He’s going to be a good one.”
In regards to his team, Fucci was excited with their effort.
“We’re hitting our stride, we’re growing up. We’ve been in numerous games like this all year, but when we folded in the past, we held on and won today.”
Parsons was soft spoken after the game, despite a barrage of back slaps and cheering form his teammates in the dugout. “It feels great to get another win,” Parsons said, “I didn’t think I was able to show all of my pitches today, but just to get this win, it feels great. We needed this one.”
The Tigers improved to 2-6 while the Saints fell to 3-4.
