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Sports

Woeful First Inning Dooms Norwood Baseball

The Mustangs lose to Newton North, 12-4.

Cashing in on its opportunities, the Newton North baseball team exploded for a six-run first inning en route to a 12-4 victory over Norwood Monday in the season opener.

“We had a lot of clutch hitting,” said Tigers head coach Joe Siciliano. “The kids have been working very, very hard on it. They have done a great job.”

The Tigers also benefited from six strong innings of pitching from southpaw Jack McGlaughlin, who struck out five while allowing only three runs.

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“Jack came out and just pitched his heart out,” said Siciliano. “He has the heart of a lion.”

Norwood, meanwhile, never managed to rebound despite signs of life during the game.

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“We got in the hole early,” said Mustangs head coach Jim Sweeney. “It changed the whole complexion of the game. We had some good innings we put together in the middle innings. I think we won the middle innings. We just have to focus on those positives.”

The troubles began early for the Mustangs as pitcher James Bussiere struggled to locate his pitches resulting in a Jake Rosenthal leadoff walk. Hector Coscione followed with a standup double, and McGlaughlin aided his cause by knocking the pair home with a single to left.

Moments later, Matt Dickey blasted another two-run single to give the Tigers the 4-0 advantage. Newton North would tack on two more runs on a wild pitch to go into the second inning leading 6-0.

“The first inning was tough,” said Sweeney. “[Bussiere] was getting behind some guys. He walked a few guys. But that’s going to happen.”

In the second inning, McGlaughlin sent three straight batters back to the dugout after giving up a leadoff single to Billy Morrison. That allowed the Tigers to pad their lead as an Alex D’Agostino sacrifice fly scored Coscione, which augmented the advantage to 7-0.

After retiring the side in order the fourth inning, McGlaughlin hit a rough patch the next stanza allowing a RBI single from Anthony Perriello. But the Tigers quickly earned the run back when Dickey scored on a force-out play.

The Mustangs would tag McGlaughlin for another two runs in the sixth, but those would be rendered moot as the Tigers scored three in the seventh before eventually going on for the 12-4 victory.

“The big difference this year is that we had very good at bats,” said Siciliano. “We went the other way when we had to. I thought the kids battled at the plate.”

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