A three-run homer by Odanys Urbaez with two outs in the seventh inning’s bottom half propelled Chelsea High’s baseball team to a 6-3 win over North Shore Vocational School on Monday. The walk-off blast over the right field fence at the MDC pool marked the Red Devils’ fourth consecutive victory and improved their season record to 6-3. North Shore had narrowed Chelsea’s early 3-0 lead from the second inning, scoring two runs in the fifth and one in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3 before Urbaez’s heroics. Chelsea pitcher Eli Ortiz delivered an outstanding outing, pitching all seven innings while surrendering just two hits and striking out 10 North Shore batters. The only runs North Shore managed against Ortiz came from two walks and a hit batsman.
The Red Devils’ success continued the previous Friday with a 4-3 victory over Pope John XXIII High, a much closer contest than their earlier double-digit win against the Tigers. Chelsea jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning before Pope John tied it at 2-2 in the third. The Red Devils scored twice more in the fourth for a 4-2 advantage, and though the Tigers scored once in the fifth to make it 4-3, that proved to be the final margin. Red Devil pitcher Adonys Urbaez limited Pope John to seven hits while striking out 11 and walking three. Luis Diaz contributed two runs and an RBI on a hit and a walk, while Adonys added a triple and three walks that produced an RBI and a run scored.
Head coach Alan Beausoleil’s squad faces a demanding schedule ahead. They were set to play Greater Lawrence yesterday (Wednesday) and host Lynn Tech on Friday. The Red Devils will host Northeast Regional on Monday, travel to Greater Lowell on Tuesday, and visit Mystic Valley on Wednesday. “This will be a key stretch for us,” said Beausoleil regarding the team’s upcoming eight days with five games scheduled. “It will be a challenge for us, but if we can continue to play the way we have been playing, we should do well.”