• Both teams are making their final pushes with playoffs just weeks away.
Needham baseball split its games at home this week, falling to Weymouth 7-6 in extra innings on Monday, May 11, before earning its first win of the season at home on Wednesday, May 13. Boys lacrosse beat Framingham 19-1 for its third straight victory.
The Rockets offense came alive against the Wildcats, putting up a season-high six runs on 11 hits.
Needham took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning with an RBI double from Charlie O’Brien. They extended that lead in third when William Moore-Ede scored on a balk by Weymouth pitcher Brady Stone.
Needham pitcher Will Cassidy shut down Weymouth through the first three innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two batters. But in the fourth, the Wildcats scored on a balk by Cassidy to make it 2-1. Later in the inning, Ryan Gildea hit an RBI double to tie the game at two.
The Rockets answered with two runs in bottom of the fourth, off an RBI double from Logan Layish and an RBI single from Moore-Ede to retake a 4-2 lead.
Weymouth loaded the bases on Cassidy in the top of the sixth, prompting a pitching change. O’Brien came on in relief but immediately threw a wild pitch allowing a run to score. Two more Wildcats scored on an error, and Ryan Ferguson capped off the inning with an RBI single to give Weymouth a 6-4 lead.
Needham responded in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at six, and neither team scored in the seventh, forcing extra innings. The Wildcats got their leadoff hitter on base on an error in the top of the 10th, and Will Pratt hit a bunt single to bring him home, putting Weymouth ahead 7-6.
Joey Saratella led off the bottom of the 10th with a single and stole both second and third base, but the Rockets could not bring him home, dropping the game 7-6.
It’s the second season in a row that Needham has lost in extra innings to Weymouth at home, after they lost 4-3 in 12 innings to the Wildcats last year.
Moore-Ede finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs, two runs and a double. O’Brien went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Layish was 2-for-5 with two doubles, two runs and two RBIs. Cassidy went 5 ⅓ innings, allowing four hits, five runs (three earned) while striking out five.
The Rockets rebounded with a 6-4 win over Framingham on May 13, their first win at home this season, to improve to 4-11 on the year.
It was a team effort for boys lacrosse on Tuesday, May 12, as the Rockets had 10 different goal scorers in a big win over Framingham.
Needham jumped out to a 7-0 by the end of the first quarter, with two goals from Nick Arbelaez, Matt Ledbury and Cal Sullivan. Tyler Berger also scored in the quarter, while the Rockets controlled every faceoff and did not allow a shot on goal.
They continued to dominate in the second quarter, scoring five more goals before Framingham got on the board to make it 12-1 at halftime. Berger, Ledbury and Sullivan each added a goal to their totals, while Finn Noon and Gavin Berardi scored their first goals of the game.
Liam Steigner opened the scoring in the third quarter for Needham, starting a running clock. The Rockets scored four goals after that, including two in a row from Jayden Greenfield to make it 17-1 heading into the fourth.
Dash Mendez scored twice in the fourth to make the final 19-1.
Despite giving up 19 goals, the Framingham goalkeeper played a solid game in net, stopping 21 of the Rockets’ 40 shots on goal. Rocket goalie Ben Lieberman stopped six of seven shots before being replaced by Lucas Olson.
Mendez, Ledbury and Sullivan all recorded a hat trick in the win.
After starting the season 3-9, the Rockets have now won three straight to improve to 6-9. They currently sit at No. 16 in the MIAA Division One power rankings and will travel to Braintree on Thursday, May 14, before returning home to face Walpole for their final game of the regular season on Tuesday, May 19.
The postseason brackets for baseball and boys lacrosse will be released on May 27 on the MIAA website.
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