WINTHROP – The Winthrop Red Sox advanced to the championship series of the Men’s Senior Baseball League with an 11-2 home rout of the Oakland Green Wave on Sunday.
Winthrop will face the Auburn White Sox, who upended the Downeast Dodgers, 6-4, earlier in the day at Pettengill Park in Auburn.
After a four-pitch leadoff walk to Kris Targett, who eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Jesse LaCasse, Red Sox pitcher Torey Carr settled down and took command.
Carr allowed an infield hit to Andy Oliver in the top of the second inning before retiring the next 16 batters. He struck out eight in that stretch and benefited from flawless defense behind him.
Losing pitcher Rick Doble was the next baserunner to reach with a double in the seventh inning.
It was more than enough to earn Carr his seventh win of the season. He worked eight innings, with Jim Morris closing out the ninth. LaCasse belted a solo home run off Morris in that frame.
Winthrop provided a balanced scoring attack with Matt McCarthy, Bob Cochran and David Ricker Sr. contributing RBI hits and accounting for eight of the team’s 11 runs. McCarthy, Ricker and Mike House all were repeat hitters for the Red Sox.
Auburn 6, Downeast 4
AUBURN – Steve LaBossiere went 4-for-4 with two stolen bases to spark the Auburn White Sox to a 6-4 MSBL semifinal win over Downeast Dodgers.
LaBossiere also took the mound in the third inning with one out and bases loaded after the Dodgers delivered four straight hits. He struck out one and coaxed a flyout to shallow left field to end the threat.
Dodgers pitching kept the Sox off balance until the seventh inning, when Auburn rallied for four runs to grab a 6-3 lead. And the pesky Boothbay offense threatened in every inning, including the ninth.
With runners on second and third, winning pitcher Tom Bourdon used some high heat to fan the final batter of the day.
Ethan Ogilby clubbed two doubles for the Dodgers. Harry Dwyer and Eddie Crocker had two singles each.
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