The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School baseball team clinched its second state tournament berth in a row with a come from behind 8-6 victory Wednesday over EAC rival Bishop Stang.
After trailing Stang by 4 runs going into the bottom of the fourth and having only recorded two hits, the MV bats came alive. Emerson Mahoney got things started with a one-out single in the fourth inning and after a fly-out, the next five MV batters reached base, four via a hit and one from a walk.
Aidan Aliberti, Elias Fhagen-Smith and Aksel Cooperrider had three straight singles, with Aliberti and Cooperrider each driving in a run. Sam Bresnick walked and Nainoa Cooperider drove in the final run of the inning with a single. MV added an insurance run in the fifth on a Mahoney single, stolen base and RBI single by Mitchell Chaves and then put the game out of reach in the sixth highlighted by a Jacob Cardoza three-run home run over the left field fence – the first of his career.
MV starter Tucker McNeeley kept MV in the game leaving with runners on and the team down only 2-0 in the fourth inning. Chris Mayhew picked up his first high school victory in relief going three and one-third innings of scoreless relief not giving up a hit, one unearned run, one strike out and one walk. With 10 wins MV has qualified for the state tournament and looks to increase its playoff seeding with the final five games over the next eight days.
