Early Offensive Burst Lifts Sharon Baseball Past Stoughton

Just like Monday’s game at , the Stoughton High baseball team gave up four first inning runs to Sharon on Wednesday, and could not recover.

A seven-run outburst in the first two innings propelled the Eagles to a 12-3 victory over the Black Knights at Stoughton in a Davenport Division matchup. Stoughton falls to 1-6 on the season, while Sharon improves to 5-3.

In the North Attleboro game Stoughton gave up seven consecutive walks leading to the four first inning runs, but against Sharon, the Eagles took advantage of heavy winds blowing out towards the outfield and did some damage with the long ball, highlighted by Jordan Aronson’s homerun to right center field, the first homerun hit at Stoughton’s spacious field this season.

Caleb Engelbourg, Eric Tung, David Zabinsky and Aronson scored the first inning runs. Sharon kept the hit parade going in the second, scoring three more times off Stoughton starter Pat Jackman and reliever Alex Fernandez.

“That was a big game for us and I expected us to come out blazing and we just flat out didn’t,” Stoughton coach Mike Armour said. “Sharon kicked our butts in every way possible.”

“We hit the ball well, the wind was blowing out, we hit some bombs—you get ahead 5,6,7 to zero, it’s tough to comeback,” Sharon coach Joel Peckham said.

Sharon didn’t hit a ball out of the infield in the fourth, but scored two more runs to increase the lead to 9-0. The Eagles added three runs in the fifth, to account for their offensive output.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time and I’ve been around to see seven and eight run leads disappear real quick, so you can’t take anyone lightly,” Peckham said. “You’re not trying to run the score up, but you have to take advantage of the chances you have and the more runs you score, the easier it is to win.”

Trailing 9-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Stoughton got on the board when Mike Gallagher hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field, bringing Sean O’Malley home.

It was the only run Sharon starter Dan Friedman allowed, scattering four hits and three walks in four innings of work, while striking out two.  Peckham felt like Friedman actually pitched better in his two losses this season, but he “pitched well enough to keep [Sharon] in the game” against the Black Knights.

Stoughton scored their other two runs in the bottom of the sixth off Sharon reliever Jake Fishman. O’Malley tripled to lead off the inning, with Fernandez bringing him home with a hit up the middle. Fernandez later scored on an error.

For Sharon, Aronson led the way with three hits, including the homer, three runs scored and a stolen base. Zabinsky and Engelbourg each had two hits and scored two runs, and Tung had two stolen bases.

For Stoughton, Mike Connelly had two hits and a stolen base, O’Malley scored two runs and Fernandez, making his first appearance of the season, had three stolen bases. Eric McPherson robbed Tung of a hit in the fifth inning with a highlight reel diving catch.

Jackman (1 2/3 innings), Fernandez (2 innings), Adam Kenney (1 inning) and Kenny Boykin (2 1/3 innings) combined to pitch for Stoughton.

“I still believe in these guys,” Armour said. “I think we have a great group of guys.”

Stoughton look to bounce back against O’Bryant on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in a non-league contest. Sharon takes on North Attleboro on Friday.