Westwood Post 320 Takes Game One

The Westwood Post 320 baseball team scored nine runs in the fifth inning Tuesday to take the first game of its best-of-three series 15-7 against visiting Quincy Post 294 in the opening round of the District 6 playoffs.

The teams square off again at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Quincy's Adams Field for game two. If necessary, game three will be at 5:45 p.m. Thursday back at Westwood High School.

After being shutout early, Westwood's hitters were able to adjust to Quincy starter Ryan Louis in their second at bats, according to Post 320 skipper Dick Paster.

"We gutted it out," he said, "stayed in the ball game and then took the game away from them."

Westwood (11-7), the No. 3 seed in the west division, was down 5-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth. However, in that half inning, Post 320 sent 14 batters to the plate and scored all nine of its runs with two outs.

Third baseman John Mullen, of Xaverian Brothers High School, got things going in the inning with a two-run infield single. Later, in the sixth inning, he crushed a solo home run to the woods behind the bullpen in left field.

After Mullen batted in the fifth, first baseman Jason Sementelli reached on an error and two more runs came across to put Westwood on top 8-5. With the score at 10-5 in the fifth, shortstop T.J. Manning hit a bases-loaded double, which brought in Westwood's three final runs of the inning.

Outfielders David Milano and Rob Johnson also had RBI singles during the nine-run rally.

In the fourth inning, catcher Gerard Florentino hit an RBI single and Sementelli hit a three-run bomb to left field to put Westwood up 4-3. Cambridge (12-6), the No. 3 seed in the east division, scored two runs in the top of the fifth to regain the lead before the Post 320 onslaught.

Ryan Walsh took the hill for Westwood and pitched a complete game for the win. He relied mostly on his off-speed stuff to get outs.

Matt Glennon is expected to go for Post 320 in game, Paster said.