American Legion: Lexington Post 38 Roughs Up Arlington/Belmont 16-6

ARLINGTON - In Lexington Post 38’s 16-6 Saturday victory over Arlington/Belmont Post 39, five pitchers threw and 15 different players combined scored 22 runs.

“We swung the bats, put pressure on the defense (and) they fell at the right time,” said Lexington assistant coach Matt Lawlor.

Lexington came out quick against Arlington/Belmont pitchers Matt Garcia and Michael Remondi, taking a 6-0 lead.

Bobby Sabatino, Nick Murray and Connor Murray scored in the top of the second against Garcia, and Justin Silvestro, Sabatino and Will Marcal scored on Remondi in the third and fourth, respectively.

Arlington/Belmont battled back in the bottom of the fourth against Lexington pitcher Scoop Ruxin, scoring three runs.

With loaded bases, David Cunningham scored from third on Barnicle’s left field single, Rob Wesoloski scored on Hunter Sleeper’s single and Danny Fitzgerald made it a 6-3 game on John Powers’ hit up the middle off of Ruxin's glove.

Ruxin and Tommy McKenna pitched for Lexington, two players who normally don’t take the mound, Lawlor said.

“I have some injuries and stuff like that, so some kids who haven’t pitched are starting to pitch," he said. "And all I ask them to do is go out there and throw strikes and hopefully the defense plays well behind them. And we did today, so that was good.

“It’s tough when people haven’t pitched in a long time that aren’t used to being on the mound and now they’re getting on the mound and doing different things,” Lawlor added. “It’s not what they’re used to, but they’re going out, they compete and they’ve been doing a pretty good job of it.”

After Arlington/Belmont’s first three runs, Lexington fired back in the top of the fifth with a seven-run inning against Remondi and Barnicle.

Nick Murray scored from second on Alex Ruocco’s center field single, and Ruocco scored on Drew Burgard’s single. Burgard and Tim McKenna crossed home plate on Silvestro’s single to deep left field.

And then an Arlington/Belmont pitching change saw Barnicle relieve Remondi. But Ruxin didn’t have any problem, as he smacked Barnicle’s pitch for a right field triple to get Silvestro and Marcal home. Then Nick Murray came back at-bat and doubled into right field to bring Ruxin home and help Lexington earn a 13-3 advantage.

“The reason we play the games is because you don’t know -- anyone can win any day,” Lawlor said. “We’ve been struggling lately swinging the bats. It was encouraging to see that we broke out of our slump a little bit. We came out today and we played well and the result is great.”

Lexington added three more runs against Barnicle in the top of the sixth and seventh, respectively, with McKenna, Sabatino and Nick Murray scoring.

Arlington/Belmont matched Lexington in the final inning, nabbing three runs themselves, as Sleeper, Powers and Aiden Cleary each scored on singles. But, the runs weren’t enough for a comeback win.

“(Lexington) is a good team,” Arlington/Belmont coach Sean O’Brian said. “There’s a reason why they were number one in the state for high school all season long. A lot of those (Lexington High School) kids are here. They’re a good team. We just couldn’t match up well against them.”

Lexington traveled to Medford Post 45 on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. This evening, they play at Malden Post 69 at 6 p.m.