The Portsmouth Abbey Varsity Baseball team earned its first SENE crown since 1985 with an exciting 6-5 victory over Wheeler on Saturday.  Inspired by injured assistant coach Matt Peterson, the Ravens were able to win two consecutive games versus Wheeler and clinch the championship series two games to one.

 

Zack Guida got the scoring started in the first inning with a two-run homer to left, his third homer in four games at Wheeler Farm this season.  After giving the home team three unearned runs in the bottom half of the frame, the Ravens responded with two more runs in the second, highlighted by Joon Lee's one-out double, a costly Wheeler error, and an RBI groundout by Tom Harty. 

 

Guida had a gutsy performance on the hill, going six strong innings.  He gave up only one earned run and struck out five.  The Abbey also played strong defense behind Guida after the shaky first inning, especially from catcher Matt Penney. 

 

The Ravens were able to break a 4-4 deadlock in the top of the sixth inning.  After consecutive walks, Bryan Kriner knocked in Harty with an RBI single and two batters later, Jon Jaxtimer earned the game-winning RBI with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch.

 

Kriner came into a 6-4 game in the bottom of the seventh and struck out the side around two hits and a run, earning a clutch save only 24 hours after his complete game victory in game two of the series.

 

The victory was especially sweet for the four veteran Ravens players (Guida, Harty, Kriner, and John Feitelberg), who suffered heartbreaking losses to Wheeler over the two previous years.  Portsmouth Abbey finishes its season with four wins in its final five games, culminating in a 7-10 record.