When Joel Rojas-Cruz stepped to the plate in the bottom of the sixth for Cambridge Rindge and Latin against Natick on Wednesday night, the score was tied, the bases were loaded and there were two outs. But he was calm, relaxed and ready to jump on anything he knew he could hit. He smacked the first pitch down the left field line for a two-run double.
“I knew I could come through,” said Rojas-Cruz, who went 4-for-5 on the night. “It means a lot to me because I’ve been with this program for four years and these coaches have always been here for me. I didn’t want it to be my last game, so I went out there and did something for my team.”
But Natick, which came into the game ranked sixth in Eastern Massachusetts by the Boston Globe, wasn’t done.
Jasen Thomas, who pitched five innings of one-hit ball against Somerville in the regular season finale, came in to close out the game. He retired Natick’s Henry Kinchla on a fly ball to right to open the inning but loaded the bases after walking two batters and hitting another. With two outs, Thomas got Braeden Homer to ground the ball weakly back to him. Thomas calmly fielded the ball and threw to first baseman Stefan Alexandrov to give the Falcons (19-2) a heart-stopping 10-8 win. They advanced to the round of eight in the MIAA Division I baseball tournament.
“I couldn’t really feel anything,” said Thomas. “It was just vibes. All I could really see was the catcher’s mitt and was trying to throw as hard as I could. Even with the bases loaded I felt great. All the work we put in during the season made me feel like I could do it.”
Cambridge, ranked 14th by the Globe, scored four runs in the first inning and led 6-1 after three. Natick clawed back into the game with three runs in the fourth inning to make the score 6-4. After Cambridge tacked on a run in the fifth, Natick scored four runs in the sixth to take an 8-7 lead, with cleanup hitter Alex Jacques hitting a three-run home run.
But as has been the case all season, the Falcons were unfazed when they found themselves trailing. Pinch hitter Ari Maslan led off with a single to left field. With one out, Josh Silber reached on an infield single, advancing Maslan to third. Natick brought in reliever Max Bonavire, who threw the ball away in a pickoff attempt at first base before he threw a pitch, allowing Maslan to tie the game. With two outs, Oliver Henke was intentionally walked, Hugo Davis was hit by a pitch and Rojas-Cruz hit his double.
“We were just relentless with the bats and just grinding all the way,” said coach Robert Merrill. “I’m so proud of the guys tonight. We always talk about staying humble, staying hungry, and giving your max effort. The guys really buy into it. That’s why they don’t freak out when we get down by a run late. They just battle and fight through it.”
The Falcons had 16 hits and were never retired in order. Henke reached base in four of his five at bats, hitting two home runs and a triple, driving in two and scoring four runs.
“The kid’s special,” Merrill said. “We go as he goes. He set the tone with the leadoff triple at the start of the game and then the second home run literally gave me goosebumps.” Merrill said Henke “never shows emotion” but tonight “I think he broke my hand high-fiving me in the dugout.”
This weekend CRLS will face the winner of Thursday’s game between Boston College High School and Braintree. BC High is the Globe’s top-ranked team and the tournament’s top seed.
Merrill likes CRLS’s chances. “I feel like we’re just as good as any of the eight teams (left),” he said. “We kind of stuck our flag in the ground tonight and said, ‘We’re for real.’”
A stronger
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