The Cambridge Rindge and Latin boys’ baseball had last won a postseason game 16 years ago, before some of its players had been born. That streak ended Monday when the Falcons won their first-round MIAA Tournament game against Lincoln-Sudbury 8-3. The eighth-seeded Falcons (18-2) advanced to the round of 16.
“It’s been a while,” said coach Robert Merrill. “There were a lot of lean years for us, and I’m just proud of them tonight. A lot of sleepless nights the last couple of years, so this one does feel pretty good. Especially against a great program like Lincoln-Sudbury.”
Through four innings, the Falcons led 3-0, thanks in part to an inning when three batters were hit by pitches. But the Warriors plated one in the fifth inning and two in the sixth to tie the score.
Cambridge bounced right back with five runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game away.
Josh Silber led off the inning by smacking a double over the left fielder’s head. Then CRLS took advantage of a series of miscues: Nikko Santos laid down an excellent bunt that the Lincoln-Sudbury catcher threw away, allowing Silber to score the go-ahead run. Oliver Henke reached on an error with Santos advancing to second. Hugo Davis’s bunt was also thrown away, scoring Santos and Henke. Joel Rojas-Cruz smacked a double to the gap in right-center to score Davis, and Rojas-Cruz scored the final run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Logan Sherwood.
“All year long, whenever other teams have scored, we’ve always responded,” said Merrill. “You could see with the guys that no one was freaking out.”
Henke earned his sixth win with a gutsy performance. He wasn’t as sharp as he has been at other times during the season, but he battled out of a couple of early jams without giving up any runs. After the first two Lincoln-Sudbury batters of the game reached base, Henke retired the next three batters to end the threat. He walked the first batter of the second inning and allowed another runner to reach with a hit but again pitched his way out of it.
“I just took some deep breaths, knowing that the field is behind me and has my back, and they did an amazing job,” said Henke. “And just knowing that if I throw strikes, good things are gonna happen.”
“Ollie’s been our guy all year,” said Merrill. “He didn’t have his best stuff today, but this guy, he’s special. Guy’s like that, when they don’t have their best stuff, they still get you where you need to be.”
CRLS hosts Natick, the 9th seed, at St. Peter’s Field on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
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