Foxborough Baseball Loses a Tough One to North Attleboro

Going into the bottom of the 6th inning, Foxborough was only a run behind the North Attleboro Red Rocketeers. Unfortunately for the Warriors, the pitching squad began to show the toll of a long week of games in their 11-3 loss.

“We had kind of used up most of our bullpen so we had to bring in a guy who threw yesterday. He was a little bit tired and his control wasn’t great. The wheels kinda came off from there,” said Foxborough coach Billy Sittig.

Foxborough challenged the Red Rocketeers all day in a close game until the 6th. The Warriors would score first in the top of the second after Steve Fitzmaurice took advantage of a throwing error to first base.

North Attleboro would not have to wait long to score. Alex Witkus would score the first of his three runs off of a wild pitch to tie the game at one. Witkus would end the day going 2-3 with 3 runs, 1 RBI, and 5 stolen bases.

“Witkus, he is a multi-tool player. So he can hit, he can field, he can run so anytime he is on base he is a threat,” said North Attleboro coach Paul Sullivan.  “He’s a good stick up there so he just keeps defenses on their toes.”

The Red Rocketeers would extend their lead in the bottom of the 4th to 3-1.  Bobby Richman would score off  of a Jordan Picini double. This was followed up by a Paul McCarthy single that drove in Zach Horton to take a 2 run lead over Foxboro.

North Attleboro did not hold on the lead for long. Producing a little rally in the top of the 5th, Brett Cresey hit a huge double to drive in TJ Notarangelo and Steve Fitzmaurice to tie the game up at 3. This would be the last of Foxboro’s offence for the game.

Alex Witkus would score again in the bottom of the 5th to take a 4-3 lead, but the big runs for North Attleboro would come in the bottom of the 6th. After pulling Brandon Fowler, Foxborough’s relief pitching proceeded to walk 5 batters, hit 2, and give up 7 runs. Of the 7 runs scored, 5 of them would be walked or walked in on a hit basemen. The other 2 runs were a product of a double by John Mitchell.  Eric Picini and Danny Johnson would score the runs.

Troy Richardson got the win for the Red Rocketeers. Pitching 4 1/3 innings, walking 4 and striking out 7, Richardson showed improvement in his throwing.

“We’re getting better with Troy.” Said North Attleboro coach Paul Sullivan. “He’s still got to work on the strike zone and his ball/strike ratio. He’s got to continue to work on is off speed stuff but he’s better than where he was and he’s getting better so we continue to look for that progression.”

Brandon Fowler got the loss for the Warriors. In 5 1/3 innings of action, Fowler walked 5 and struck out 5.

Despite the 6th inning meltdown, Foxboro coach Billy Sittig knows that there was a lot more to the game than one bad inning. Staying competitive for most of the game, Stigg did see some positives come out of the game.

“North Attleboro is one of the best teams in the Hock. We’re showing we can compete with them. It was 3-3 in the 5th and then it was 4-3 in the 6th. We’re showing that we’re right there with them but as a winning team we need to take the next step and win a game like this.”